johnatg

Actually, it's not quite true that all Lexus cars are hybrid with CVT. The LC F and a version of the RC are/will be available with a 5 litre V8 and multi-speed gearbox. But the cars for ordinary mortals are as I said!

There are no recent Lexus turbos. IS250 only had 2.5 litre V6. (In Gen2 & 3 forms). There were diesel variants and the IS200T. Now there is only the IS300h - same power train as GS300h. Not sure who makes the CVT boxes but all Lexus gearboxes are ultra-reliable. Sent from my PSP7551DUO using Tapatalk

Correction - the GS300h of course has a 2.5 litre straight 4 engine. The GS300 is long gone - was last in gen 3 guise? All recent (3 - 4 years) Lexus cars in UK are hybrids with CVT gearboxes - some are RWD (eg IS and GS), some are FWD and some of them have an additional electric motor driving the rear wheels. The IS200T was dropped when Lexus went all hybrid. Sent from my PSP7551DUO using Tapatalk

I am puzzled by your references to GS200t - there's no such thing. The only 200T is the NX - a completely different thing. And the CT200. Neither are anything like a GS. There was an IS200T (briefly). There was a GS250 - 2.5 litre V6 normally aspirated - that was replaced by the GS300h some years ago The GS most recently came as GS450h (3.5 litre V6 hybrid) or GS300h (2 litre straight 4 hybrid). Both engines are normally aspirated, not turbo. Both only come with CVT gearbox. Prices of GS have not really changed much with discontinuation of GS - you just need to look around for the car you want. No gearbox servicing is specified by Lexus.- all recent Lexus gearboxes are CVT. The ML audio is definitely better, but not by a huge margin. Standard audio is fine, but it depends on your criteria for listening to audio. Even a GS is hardly a sound studio! Lexus cars are easy to service, diy or independent - BUT - if or when it comes to trade-in dealers are not interested in non-Lexus serviced cars. So if you want to retain value and expect to trade in at a Lexus dealer, it is advisable to get the car serviced by Lexus. If you get a hybrid - and that's your only choice with a recent Lexus - you need at least to have a hybrid health check at least annually by a dealer.

I should have said "the fuel filter is incorporated....... etc Sent from my PSP7551DUO using Tapatalk

The fuel pump is incorporated into the in-tank fuel pump and is not a regular service item.

Get wheel balance checked - it's critical. Not sure why but tyres seem to last a long time on Lexus hybrids (Well, unless you ear'ole your GS450h!🙂) I used to get about 25K miles from a set on my IS250. My GS300h has still got three original tyres at 39K miles - one is needing replacement soon but the other two originals have plenty of life left . I'm guessing one was destroyed by a puncture - it was replaced by a Lexus dealer at 30K miles. But it means there's a lot of time for slightly uneven wear to develop which can affect wheel balance - or even for a weight to be lost.

It's a few months yet until April 1st!🙂

Gen 4 GS cars (and no doubt some others) have Bluetooth built in so you can play music from your phone very easily. 128Gb-worth of music might be pushing a phone a bit, though!🙂

Welcome to the forum! I only got my similar car a couple of months ago, but I did have an IS250 for 7+ years before that! Incidentally - did you get the slim 130-odd page User Guide plus the separate Navigation Owner's manual, and/or the full 1000+ page 'handbook'? Mine came with nothing, (despite being Lexus Approved Used - the dealer eventually supplied the slim User Guide), but I bought a Nav owner's manual on eBay and downloaded the full Handbook from the 'My Lexus' site (where you can check service history etc)

in the first place, that's nothing to worry about. High lambda readings can be caused by an exhaust blow but the it would probably be higher than what you report. More likely that its' caused by air leaking in from the 'other' exhaust outlet. If you (or the tester) were to bung up the unused exhaust outlet and seal up the one with the probe (with a rag or similar) it would probably be back to pretty much zero.

+1 to that - spot on.

Indeed - same reason though - the channels to the hydraulic actuator are very narrow - room to drain, but if they are gummed up (even slightly) it takes a few more engine revolutions to pressurise the actuator.

Lexus service intervals are 10K miles for private owners and 12.5K miles for business users. What ???? Most Lexus models will be run by business users in their early years. The thing with hydraulic valve lifters is that they have very small channels through which the oil is pumped. Now oil, even clean oil, starts to leave a thin deposit of gum on all internal engine surfaces from when it is first introduced into an engine - you can see it as a brown varnish-like film in a neglected engine, but it will be there, more or less, in every engine. It doesn't matter in most areas but if the hydraulic lifter channels get significant deposits they will have reduced flow capacity. It's still enough for the lifter to drain out when the engine is stood overnight but the restriction means that the oil doesn't get pumped in quickly enough to fully pressurize the lifter when the engine is started - it can take a few seconds to fully pressurize. That means the valves don't open far enough, causing the misfire and rattle. (it's like a tappet with too wide a gap). I have a Mk 1 MX-5 which has another engine prone to HVL gumming up - to the extent that Mazda abandoned hydraulic lifters for the Mk 2 and settled instead for solid tappets with shim adjustment - and a right pain they are. My MX-5 is nearly 28 years old - I have owned it for nearly 14 years and before me the first owner was a friend of mine and he had it for 14 years. It has had a flush for every oil change since new and is completely silent tappet-wise on start-up and has always been and it has suffered no ill-effects. It gets an oil change about every 3K miles. (It is supercharged too) My IS250 kept its valve lifters silent for the 7+ years I owned it. I have been changing oil in my, and various family members' cars for over 50 years and I've been using flush (various brands) for I would say the last 30 odd years - I have never seen any problem and no engine has suffered any failure in that time. I understand why manufacturers try to dissuade owners from putting random stuff into their engines - but they will keep using hydraulic valve lifters. That is quite an amusing article you reference and I agree with every word - except for engine flush for cars with hydraulic valve lifters. (Oh - and fuel injector flush - occasional use of a petrol additive to clean gum deposits out of injectors is beneficial) And after all, engine flush only costs about £3.50 a time if you buy the flush several bottles at a time (My current supply is Comma Engine flush). If an engine suffers from HVL rattle it can usually be silenced over a short period of time by changing the oil at say 2500 mile intervals, with flush of course It's a controversial subject, but that's my twopenny worth! Your mileage may vary!

Lexus V6 2.5 and 3.5 litre engines are prone to slight knock on start up (as are many other engines), caused by the hydraulic valve lifters sticking. That's caused by not-frequent-enough oil changes. Oil should be changed much more frequently than Lexus (and manufacturers generally) recommend in their service schedules - I'd recommend every 5K miles. And use an engine flush every time. As long as it clears within a couple of seconds it's not particularly harmful - just irritating. But it may get worse over time and eventually cause problems so better to adopt a more frequent oil change regime - maybe do it yourself or engage an indie in between Lexus services if you'll be using the dealer.

It's not just camber that wears the inner edge of tyres - straddling speed bumps is a major cause. You should drive with one side of the car on one side - on a flat part - and the other side of the car over the raised part - going slowly, of course. Hardly anyone does this - people just drive over them, straddling them, at unabated speed.

This might be useful: https://autotechnician.co.uk/brake-servo-fault-finding-guide/

If it only manifests when very cold I'd suspect icing somewhere - possibly in the vacuum pipe to the brake servo. Take it off and see if it's damp - the valve in it may be freezing up.

There are two types of HUD system - type A and type B. The one I've described above is type B, which I assumed is fitted to all UK and possibly US cars (ie those using mph). Type A I assumed is fitted to pretty much all others using kph and can only be set to kph or off. It may well be possible to switch Type A in settings to mph (only) Is it possible that your car was first delivered or destined for Irish Republic or, less likely, Cyprus? Or even Japan? Does it have a european type VIN? Is there anywhere else using kph and right hand drive? (I'm discounting Oz and NZ) Or did they just change the system at some point? Anyone with a more recent GS here?

Don't press the brake pedal whilst you change the nipple - that just guarantees that you lose more fluid. It is worth clamping the hose if you can do so without damaging it - that really needs a purpose made clamp. Just unscrew the nipple and screw the new one in as quickly as possible. Then you will need to bleed the brakes in the normal way as you are bound to have lost some fluid and let some air into the system. These things are just nipples - there is no valve involved.

Swapping the bulbs over should show whether it's a fault with the bulbs or the light housings / wiring / earths.

That's interesting - and odd. My car is a 2014 GS300h and it works as described in the handbook - from (normally showing) display showing mph, press HUD - changes to kph - press HUD - off - press HUD - on showing mph etc.

I have very similar ramps. My drive has a rather slippery surface (printed concrete) and ramps tended to slip, so I got a couple of lengths of military webbing. These go from the bottom rung of the ramps and extend back to the wheels which are on the deck (when the wheels at the end you are raising are more or less in contact with the ramps) hence the deck wheels hold the ramps in position as the raised end rides on to the ramps. I use these ramps for several cars and with most of them I have to put short planks of wood in front of the actual ramp. The wood goes under the webbing and serves as a pre-ramp to make sure the bits of the car in front of the wheels clear the first part of the ramp. You do need a drive at least twice as long as the car to use this technique!

I suggest you get a quote from an exhaust fabricator - plenty of them around. They should be able to replace the rusted parts in stainless for a fraction of that price.