soramad

There is always a drain on the Battery as there are so many systems to keep alive when the ignition is turned off. 

I have recently removed the Lexus fitted 50ah Battery in the boot of my GS450h and replaced it with a 70ah , it fits the tray but not the holding strap which is only bolted into the floor, am getting one fabricated.  Unfortunately this is not possible in the RX400h as the Battery is in the front with only space enough to fit the original.

Hi folks, long time since I have been on the LOC , Soarer committed suicide on a greasy roundabout , bought GS 430 which got rear ended / written off, have now got a GS450h and have just bought a  RX400h for work as my Surf failed its last MOT big time never had a failure before, so am not paying out big money on a 23 year old truck, hence the RX, however the RX has a couple of issues the front light washers do not pop up or give water, and the front and rear parking sensors are inoperative , have gone through some of the fuses but I don't want to pull out fuses that I don't know what they do , it also appears that the below dash fuses duplicate the under bonnet fuses so confusion reins, if no one on here can help then its going to be a visit to Lexus dealer.   

Having recently changed the camera unit on my GS430 I can tell you the camera is a sealed unit , I managed to buy a good working second hand  camera from Lithuania off the internet for £40.00 and its working perfectly however when the sun is low and you are reversing into it the camera gives an image like an over exposed photo but at all other times the imaging is pin sharp and very good even at night. A new one fitted by Lexus (fitting takes about 20minutes) will set you back £630.00.

2 hours ago, Ceramicolive said:

Found it although it is an RA25? not sure of the differences but it is a lovely looking car.

http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/192881/1975-toyota-celica-gt2000-ferocious

Those rear window louvers take me back to late 60's early 70's, I had similar fitted to the 3 ltr Capri's I had at the time , I have wondered recently what they would look like on the slope of the rear window of my GS430, though the auto rear blind would then become redundant.

I do not have a 450 but I do have a GS430 and the sport button stiffens up the suspension adjusts the steering responce and the gears will hold on till the top revs are reached before changing up if you keep the accelerator pushed down , yours may well bring the electric motor into play to give extra power?

In my GS430 I use Sainsburys 98 ron un-leaded, I used it in my Soarer which actually according to Toyota required 100 ron being a 4ltr with a 10-1 compression ratio by the same token being the same engine but up rated I thought it would be prudent to use the same grade petrol.

As the cooling system has a header/expansion tank the radiator filler cap is really superfluous hence the bleed screw on the later models, so either rads will be ok to fit this also applies to the SC series  

This is the way I have done repairs when the pieces were not available to glue back in.

Take out the glass, remove the screws holding the motor unit , let it dangle on the wires if there is no connector handy , tape some oiled/greased , grease proof paper over the outside of the hole , use some fibre glass resin  to blend in and fill the hole from the inside allow to harden remove the tape and repeat the process on the out side, blend in the contours of the mirror case by adding layers of body filler, sand to a smooth finish , blending into the surrounding paint work cover with primer, smooth with 1500/2000 grade wet and dry abrasive paper , repeat until smooth finish is obtained , spray with final colour until you are satisfied with final finish , use abrasive between coats if you get runs or am not happy with the finish as is.

I can vouch for the parts actually coming from Lithuania as I bought a rear parking camera for my GS430 from there as mine wasn't working and now it is ,I wouldn't be without it now.. Lexus wanted over £600.00 for a replacement camera ,£43.00 from over there off e-bay.

You could try here http://www.batterymegastore.co.uk/batteriesfinder/index/productlist/    I bought the Hankook battery for my GS430 and have had no problems also a good guarantee period 

David, that's an interesting post as I was told my 2055 GS430 was a sport when I bought it, but have nothing to substantiate whether it is or not, there is no mention of a sport in the owners manual. other than a sport button,  however it is fully loaded with all published extra's. 

Pleased to see a few more GS430's are popping up, I spotted 2 more in Gloucester recently 1black gen 2, 1 silver gen1, they are no doubt a real sleeper when it comes to big saloon cars and  Lexus quality for ford money..

Having just lost my Soarer, I recently bought a GS430 and its one hell of a car , a wolf in sheep's clothing, fully loaded with stuff I never knew existed like radar cruise control , more power than the Soarer had, 0-60 time  just less than 6 secs (Lexus figures)..A full 5 seater saloon  with sport coupe performance. The problem is finding them , though I notice there are some available on a few car sales sites £5000 - £7000 depending on the year.

Mine is actually a 2055 but has 2006 spec, I have read somewhere that only 2000 were made in 2006 but no indication as to where they went in the world.Some must have come here but how many I wonder. Perhaps they all came to Gloucestershire   I would have never expected such a large saloon to be so loaded or quick. Are you in Gloucester?

It would appear that there is not many of us then , my gen 3 was sold as a sport but I can't find out what the difference might be. However I'm really pleased with it, a real sleeper on the road and there are still toys I haven't even tried yet especially on the pop out panel, Its a totally different experience to my late Soarer and it would appear to be nearly as exclusive.

Just wondering how many GS430's were on here and which generation they are , there seems to be a lot of 300's but very few 430's. 

Well I'm pleased to say the Lister Lexus parts guys in Cheltenham have come up trumps , they got me the mechanical key number for my car , and also a parts type No, for should I be unable to get them cut, Lexus would get them done for me for £43.00 each, not cheap, but I would be able to access the car in an emergency.

Does anyone on here know the difference between a 3rd gen GS430 and a " GS430 sport, is there anything that the sport has that the std one hasn't or is it just a sales thing.

All is forgiven there are so many electronic system features on this car I'm still learning how to use them and how they work , the radar cruise control for instance is quite awesome in use to name just one.

Der, I can only assume you missed the words electronic keys , I walk up to the car with key fob in my pocket , door unlocks , i sit in car,  foot on the brake, push button, car starts ,

release foot operated hand brake if I have set it and off I go. I will only need the mechanical key in the event of an emergency , or if I want to lock the boot and/or the glove box so they can't be accessed by the electronic key. manual key is removable from the electronic key.

Yes I do have the 25mm thick owners manual but the previous owner has not written in that information.

Thanks for the heads up john , but its all academic without the key number as I don't have an original key to photograph, actually I can get them cut with no trouble at all. I am hoping the lock/key No is secreted somewhere on the car other than the missing key number plate. I am also hoping the No can be sourced from the car ident No by the local Lexus dealer.                                                                         

A question regarding mechanical keys on my GS430, Is it possible to acquire the key number to have the keys cut for the car ? I have two electronic keys both with mechanical keys both of which have never been cut just with the slot down both sides , this indicates either the keys have been lost then replaced or both the whole  units have been replaced with the electronic keys re-programmed  to the car but not had the mech keys re cut which seems more likely.

Also while at the Lexus dealer recently I took the gear change knob in to see if it could be replaced as the top of the wooden part had faded and grey, yes the part could be replaced for my car no indication of the type of wood used( redish , cherry wood? mahogany? unknown?)  it would cost £350.00, looks like another E-mail to Lithuania, that is a stupidly high price for something like that.  I have a french polishing friend who may come up with a fix.      

I have recently had a new rear No plate made for my GS430 it was made from a modified Jag back plate blank and fits fully the rear recess and has only my reg No on it , its fixed with yellow plastic bolts rather than the steel bolts that were in the original.

Camera now fitted and working , I was suprised at how much of a rear view can be seen on the screen bearing in mind the angle the camera is at and where its situated in the No plate recess. Slill it was a cheap fix as the camera (off a GS430) only cost £30.00 from Lithuania and I fitted it , am going to take the old one apart and see if I can find any replaceable faulty components. 

Car went to Lexus for health check and camera sort out, camera kaput after system check , possible start of one rear caliper slide pin wear fault found in health check , will have to investigate the slide pin fault , I have camera coming from a source and will fit asap on arrival. Lexus wanted over £600.00 to supply and fit new camera, now that is taking the *****!, I did have an e-mail from Lexus which included a short video of what they had done during the health/camera check, £60.00 well spent as we were there 2 1/2 hrs. I also found out that a new caliper costs in excess of £300.00 not sure if that includes fitting though.