nickmoul

Nick, young 52 (I hope), married still after zzzzz years. Run underwear design and import Co. I do all the Finance and IT. We are 3 who run with 50 staff, just coming good after 6 hard years. Step son Michael 33 in IT with Invesco in London. I'm in tiny hamlet in West Yorkshire, been in Yorkshire 25 years. Worked in Bahamas, Manchester and Yorkshire, running hotels, rescuing trading businesses, Property etc. First Job was in IT, but in those daysd IT= engineering = no wonga so I did Chartered Accountancy, which means I get the cheque book - well sometimes! Love cars, now on 3rd Lexus = Rx-300, previously 2 XJ Jags, then 4.0 Soarer, Mercedes, then very early LS-400. Thinking of buying another Lexus, perhaps Altezza. Fair on IT, but not up to high levels of some of others here I think. Mad on Widescreen, DVD, Home cinema, picnics, co**** fishing (they ALL go back). Read alot, write a fair bit. Love big Projects and organising. Live in 16th Century hovel, now not too bad, but alot of work to do. Best Wonga creator was paying martgage early by being very skint for 10 years. Biggest failings are I love helping people even when I don't have time, sucker for a sob story, very tight with money, always looking for a good deal. Find my wife - 8 years older than me - rather dull, she doesn't like cars or DVD's or home cinema. She likes Art (ugh!) and wine tasting. I prefer people to booze and paintings. What have you started Steve??????

Its a thing with oval/oblong holes in. I think it needs re-positioning, or replacing with bar with no holes (like my old V12 Jag used to have that worked Sooooo well). It comes up when the S/R is opened, but BOY is it noisy!

If you feel the suspension is hard try this free DIY method. Lower the tyre pressure all round by 3lbs. It can make a stunning difference. My RX (Yup I know yours is an IS) rides much better in town or on bumpy roads on 27lbs rather than 30. The other way is much more expensive. Your Tyre/Wheel combination is probably set by fashion (skinny tyres on big alloys?). Smaller wheels with bigger tyres will give you a very different ride, which you may - or may not - prefer. B) Either way you've got a great car - enjoy it and if you really fancy an upgrade then look for a 12 month old very low mileage private sale and sell yours through AutoTrader. Best of luck, Nick

Thanks for that. May have saved me $25! Any ideas on a Windshield for the sun roof?

Hi, can anyone please help. I have a 1999 Rx-300 Import and one thing that drives me nuts is wind noise when I open the Sun Roof. According to www.alldata.com there is a TSB on Sun Roof noise. Anyone know either what it says, or better, how to stop the wind noise? Thanks for any help Nick B)

Wow thats a lot of dosh for the Lexus badged Boot liner. If you are slightly less well heeled a visit to Costco with a tape measure and the measurements of your boot and look for the Costco 4x4 liner. Fits my RX-300 a treat and has saved my bacon several times already. Also as its rubberised nothing slides about.

If you mail the copy to me I'll OCR it to an Excel file, which Access can read, then I';ll forward it to Son of Pi100, If thats any help...... :D Nick

I hope this link may help http://www.hoseworld.com/acatalog/CORRUGAT...IATOR_HOSE.html They aren't expensive and they seem to be hose specialists and they are UK based. Best of luck Nick

Personally I think www.dashmount.co.uk has a really neat solution. Follow link through to their Carkits too.

What have we started? OK, I didn't really want to admit this 1969 Vauxhall Victor, rust held it together 11 months 1970 Morris Minor 1100 Soft-Top cost £ 25, plus £25 to put in girders to stop it sagging in the middle! Sold to Tim Rice's Brother, it lasted in South of France for years 1971 VW Beetle, OK till engine started to throw oil, sold quick 1971 Morris Oxford Ugh! 1973 Citroen Dyane ( 2CV on Steriods!) then moved to Bahamas Ford Maverick 603 cu in 2 door coupe. Great in a straight line - only! Mini and Ford Capri as well (Cars were cheap out there!) Ford Cortina x2 awful Mercedes 300SL 0 now we're talking car, but very slow and boring Very early LS400 - a bit old man, all the money had been spent under the bonnet, it looked like it Imported Soarer 4.0. Wonderful, dangerous car, very bad handling on ice, far too fast for me, nearly lost licence Jaguar V12, *** low down grunt and very fast, but could not pass petrol station 15 mpg on a good day! Also at same time ford Explorer, big brash beatiful, great car Jag XJ8 4.0 LWB 22 mpg, body twisted which I hated, but otherwise lovely red car with cream interior, very classy Now RX300 import, lovely car, but getting hungry for Altezza or similar to go a bit faster/smoother? Love my Lexi

I had one of these 8 years ago, imported new from Japan. Mine was Auto, but otherwise just like yours. I loved it, BUT WARNING, its very easy to lose your licence I went from clean to 16 points including one fit up in 12 months, but got off on appeal. Also, I got mine December and nearly wrote it off next day on black ice. If its not got traction control (which as you know is NOT ECT), be very careful in cold weather. I loved mine, but when I changed jobs it had to go. I've got an RX300 import which I love, but I must admit I'm getting tempted to look at Altezza's etc too. BTW I think www.carhandbooks.com do a fair translated car handbook. Best of luck you lucky b*******d Nick Nick Moul, Harrogate

Hi there, from UK to Trinidad. These books are translated versions of the Japanese ones that come with Jap Imports. They are done in Australia and they are OK. Not as wonderful as web site would have you believe, but Crammed with all the important stuff. They are A5 double sided computer printed sheets on plain white paper, short end bound using glue, with well made clear thick plastic cover. Mine had a few faulty or duplicated pages, but yet I didn't seem to be missing anything. I bought one from OZ, but I think it cost just the same as your link. Its a real translation of the Car Handbook, do if thats what you want, its the business! Best of Luck Nick http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/sty...es/1/icon14.gif

Well, lets see what we can do. To convert the FM from 0.5 Mhz steps to 0.1 Mhz steps try www.edl.co.nz and get a PB1500 which will do what you want. Cost about USD 60.00. Dead easy to fit in line with Aerial. Miles to Km. More difficult as usually its the other way round but try this link and call them http://spares.jicconline.co.uk/11787.html?...session*id*val* Lastly, I know no way of converting temperature, but suggest this quick rule of thumb you can do in you head. to convert from F to C. 60f -30= 30/2 = 15. So its F minus 30 then divide result by 2. Its close enough for most "reasonable" temperatures. Try these. 32f gives 1C (should be 0). 100F gives 35C which is about 36 really! Hope that helps, Nick, Harrogate in Yorkshire England.

Silly question. Will it fit my RX-300? If so I'll have one too please.

I have just bought - 4 weeks ago - 1999 Harrier, which is pristine. 18000 miles, one previous owner who was - nicely - very fussy and proud. Said it has swedish axles - any ideas. I think its a G pack. I've bought the OZ translated manual and learnt a bit. I'm getting a proper fm band expander from NZ. Its full cream leather, Metallic Gold outside, runs like a dream. What can I do with the beauty, from fair to loony? Its being re-badged Lexus. Its got 3 things I'd change if possible 1. The rear view mirror is just basic, no LED or dimming, is that available anywhere? 2. The roof light is a strange Jap aftermarket thing with a Fan. Can I get a nice replacement that doesn't fan! 3. The radio is a Jap 76-90 Mhz OEM. Apart from the FM Band expander can anything else be done? I fancy a radio with digital Bands. Finally a suggestion. I cannot find a list of recommended links. Is there such a list on here?

Lets be honest, with 20/20 hindsight, you should have walked out as soon as you didn't like the salesman. I had an unhelpful experience with Lexus Leeds. The salesman knew nothing about the car, offered pathetic trade-ins and was not interested in negotiating. Then 2 days later I was speaking to a business colleague who - it turned out - had a relation who had just purchased the Leeds Franchise. I was contacted by the Leeds Boss who arranged to see me. I was then treated like a fool, offered a discount of so called £1500, but it was actually only a £1000 because they'd restickered the forecourt price (and on the internet). He reduced the Trade in I'd been offered the previous week on 2 cars by £750. I was then offered a test drive accompanied by a very new young salesman, which was a joke because the car hadn't even been valeted. It also was very scruffy. I sold my 2 cars IN THE TRADE for £1500 more, bought a s/h Harrier (RX-300) with 18,000 miles on which is pristine and My vendor was Braham Garage (not a Lexus Dealer), who have been superb. They even helped reprogram the ECU after the car was stolen with the keys and I needed to get it so the ToeRags could not get back into it. Sadly Lexus is about marketing a great range of cars. All the rest is just guff in the UK. Its no better or worse than any Prestige car dealer. They all shortcut on service unless you give them no opportunity to get it wrong, by being very very careful, obviously looking under the bonnet, checking the oil colour after a service, giving them a list of faults and getting it back with the words "rectified" written against it. I mean think of the labour rates they're charging, realise they do as little as possible. Most of what they do is just connect up the diagnosis cable and read off the display. I reckon to go to the dealer JUST for the service and take it to a real garage to get anything else done. Also a safety check by your favoured real garage may save your life. Cynical Nick.

2 ways I think. Using the key put it in the drivers door lock and turn to lock and HOLD. It should shut windows and sunroof. Second way - not so sure - there's something called C BEST which is a dealer set up option and I THINK one option is to shut windows when keyless entry system is set to lock. Try searching C Best in these forums. Hope that helps Nick, Yorkshire, UK

Here in UK Nokia Phones have standard Handsfree Car Kits depending on Phone model. I use T-Mobile as my cell phone provider and they do a fitted kit for under US$100. I chose an executive kit because that means no drilled holes on the dash. For Example the Car Kit for a Nokia 6xxx series is called CARK91 and it fits in series with the Radio/CD/Cassette so you can have phone auto answer, shut off audio, and you just listen and talk. For Nokia phones start at www.nokia.com Best of Luck Nick Yorkshire England

If you are spending the same amount of money, then UK spec gets you better residuals and better treatment at Lexus Dealers. Also Jap Spec Cars require following Mods FM is on different band in Japan so Band Expander needed from Aus or NZ. Sat nav probably won't work TV won't wont NTSC v PAL Kilometre to Miles readings Some Japanese stuff on the Car Lexus Badges Import Insurance is slightly more expensive (about GBP60 per year) Probably need to uprate the Alarm/Immobiliser It is worth it if you want a 3 year old very low mileage car for around 60% of UK Price. Compare 3 year old Toyota Harrier Kluger with 10,000 miles at under GBP 20,000 with Leather, Sunroof, all other stuff except working Sat Nav to Lexus Rx-300 3 Year old, 71,000 miles, no sat nav, leather, sunroof, GBP25,000. Get it through a GOOD importer and he'll sort the type approval, radio, Km to Miles etc in the price. I have Lovely Toyota Harrier and its half price of equivalent Lexus UK spec. And I got GBP1500 more for my trade in to a trader than Lexus Leeds offered me.

Unless I am wrong (!) your key is like a lot of other Toyota/Lexus keys. Check out locksmiths or auto locksmiths in your local area. I bet you'll get a replacement for a fraction of $200. Or Try a Local breakers yard. Best of luck Nick

Hi there, I've just joined. I found these guys www.johnrichards.co.uk based in Liverpool. Graham and John are fantastic and seem to be able to get everything locks or keys based for fair price in 10 days or less, or DHL for a premium price. Question. I have Toyota Harrier aka RX-300. I had keys stolen. I'm getting new keys, but question is how does the replacement master key with transmitter get matched to car? If there is no immobiliser built into car there must be some way or getting car receiver to notice a new replacement key? Thanks for any help, Nick :)

My 1999 Harrier Rx300 was stolen, using the keys. Its been found, but I need the locks replacing. Will I have a problem getting them? Thanks Nick Moulsdale