johnatg

Just look at the discs through the wheels. If you can see two discs with a quarter inch or so between them, you've got vented - if just one disc they're solid. If you can't see, take a wheel off - then it's obvious.

On Wheeler Dealers, Edd China (and probably Ant Anstead too ) always separates ball joints by hitting the joint from either side, simultaneously, with two hammers. That's never worked for me - I wonder if they separate the joint off camera then put it together loosely for the live take! 😕 I have a Laser one similar to but much less sophisticated than Paul's, but it works fine on the scissor principle.

Yep - that's it. Best to remove the whole rod including the track rod end, make a bit of a jig to record the total length then put the old end on the new rod and adjust to the exact old length - although yours is wrong anyway. Then reassemble and get the tracking adjusted.

It's pretty simple really. The tie rod screws into the rack - there are flats on the inside part of the ball joint. I haven't done the job on a IS250 but I have on other cars - they are all much the same. You will probably need a BIG spanner - an adjustable will do. Note the torque setting - 76 ft.lb. That's pretty damn tight.

Stuart - does the V5c show the same Vin as the car? Did you report the VIN when you applied for the V5c or did it come from DVLA records?

I hate to suggest it, but I'm thinking there's a strong possibility that Stuarts car is cloned. That would explain all the anomalies he's reported so far, eg invalid number on the green slip, showing as still taxed etc. I'm afraid that the authorities will come checking one day. Then it will depend on whether they can identify the car. My late brother-in-law bought a Fiesta at auction for his son once (20 odd years ago) - did it up - the 'authorities' identified it as a clone (or at least a duplicate of another car). They came to check but couldn't find a VIN number - they had all been removed (the car came from Liverpool.....). So he got to keep it. The car was issued a Q number though. Does the mileage check out with last MoT - 131071 on 15th October 2020 and have you viewed the test location? (You need the V5c for that) Anyone think of another explanation? And Richard - I suspect you may get a bill for a month's tax, at least, unless you put the Honda on SORN when it changed hands. I don't know how on the ball they are with enforcing instant tax or Sorn at the point of sale.

The 2000- Gen 3 LS430 with the 3UZ-FE engine uses a timing belt rather than a chain. Gen 3 & 4 GS450h and GS300h use chains.

The life of a timing chain is highly dependant on oil changes. They will last 250000 miles and more if the oil is changed frequently - I always change mine at least twice as often as manufacturer recommendations - eg 5000 mile intervals. Manufacturer service intervals are a compromise between cost and service life for fleet managers. They know that fleet cars are generally disposed of before about 80K miles, so the service intervals are set so that the car can be expected to be reliable up to and a bit beyond that. Service it more often, ie change the oil more often, and the car will last longer. Lexus GS are good for 200K miles and more if serviced effectively. Of course, most GS start life as fleet cars. Unfortunately it can be hard to know how well a car has been treated in an earlier life. All IMHO and maybe I'm a bit cynical!

It's a 3 litre V6 3GR-FSE, yes? If so it has chains - three of them. I guess it is just possible that one chain has broken or jumped, in which case a repair might be feasible, but more work than just that would almost certainly be required. Would you get away with removing just one head? - who knows? Only way to find out how much this would cost is to do some stripping down - itself not an inexpensive process. I don't think John's suggestion of fuel pump stands up if it was running perfectly and stopped suddenly. The total lack of compression in one cylinder is very worrying - means serious piston damage or a valve not closing. Latter unlikely when running at speed unless serious valve/camshaft/timing chain damage.

Oh dear. Sounds serious. Whatever the problem is, and it sounds like valves/ valve gear - it is going to cost several thousand pounds. If it was just a head gasket there would be some compression and it wouldn't have stopped suddenly. It wouldn't run at all with a broken timing chain and if it had jumped a tooth or several teeth it should run but poorly - maybe not though. Even fitting a replacement engine is going to be expensive. The car is probably worth about £1.5K max in p.ex. or £3K in a private sale (in excellent condition fully fixed) - but if it was fixed you probably wouldn't sell it. Sale for spares on eBay - anywhere from £200 to £600 or so. A replacement similar car might cost up to £5k with lower mileage. Dilemma! Me - I'd be tempted to call it a day on this car. Shouldn't happen to a Lexus at this mileage.

Can you just remove the bolts from the sump at that corner?

Doh... I'll get me coat....

You're not suggesting this is the same car?? RAJ19J was issued a V5c on 18 Jan 21, it's silver and first reg Oct 2005. DY56NTN (this car) issued V5c on 24 Dec 18. it's blue and first reg Sep 2006

Ah.. OK.. you'd think London streets would be completely empty.

If you go to the TfL website and put the reg in, it says it is liable to a fee of £15 - £17.50 a day. On the other hand, ulezchecker.com says it is compliant.

Looks like a nice car, but very expensive for a 2006. Confused.com valuation says £3470 forecourt, £2770 private, £1670 p.ex. Seller's description says he's not open to offers (see bottom of the extended description) - that may change! I'd make an offer of £3000 subject to inspection. Oh - probably irrelevant but it's not ULEZ compliant despite the tick on Autotrader

It's hard to tell from the workshop manual. Certainly the engine disassembly procedure has the sump removed before the timing chain cover, but there doesn't appear to be any overlap between the two, so I think there's a strong possibility that you do not need to remove the sump first. Why do you want to remove it? You really should have a workshop manual before tackling anything like this - easily available on eBay.

I think it just reached the end of further development. They weren't selling enough and the whole marque is swinging towards further electrification - the main thing then is lack of EV range. Not worth doing anything about that when hardly anyone is buying saloons - everyone and his dog wants an SUV - thereby cancelling out any benefits from going electric. Wonder how long the ES will last......

The outer lamps are dipped beams, the inners are main beams Both are lit on main beam.

They look OK in the bottom pic to me. But there should be sidelight bulbs lit in the inner lamps

There's a lot more to it than features - or toys, most of which actually add little to the value of a car but can affect the price quite substantially. You can't compare a sports coupe with a SUV/Crossover in any meaningful way - and the sticker price of a car depends on what the manufacturer can get for it (or sell enough of at a price point), not on how much it costs to build or what features it has. And there will be substantial differences in the basic build cost anyway - the NX is a front wheel drive vehicle (F-sport version anyway) - (some have 4 wheel drive but the rear drive is a separate electric ad-on affair). The RC isn't. Chalk and cheese comes to mind.

But what about the fuel pump?

That's not so bad - 21 payments - 1 year and 9 months!

According to https://www.lexus.co.uk/owners/servicing-and-maintenance/lexus-essential-care : Major £455 Minor £245 MoT £49 So 2 x £455, 1 x £245, 3 x £49 comes to £1302. The rest (£327) I guess is interest on what is essentially a loan. Or is the plan for full price services - or is a spark plug change included?

That's £1629?