Flakmann

Update, (a) Keys; the guy in Huddersfield could only obtain from Lexus, so I bought a blank (long one) off fleabay, and had a local locksmith laser cut it. it will manually lock/unlock the doors, and the ignition. ( £2+ and £10 cutting) ( B) Boot gas struts; Posted them off to SGS, and they re-gassed them. Quick turnaround. (£29+VAT) © Failing instrument needles, Pulled out the instrument binnacle one weekend, and extracted the Tacho needle. Tested it with 9 volts and no response. On the underside, in a groove must be 30+ very small LEDs each with a couple of minute tags. see pic. I suspected a very fine wire down each side had connected these tags originally and had since disintigrated. Tried using electricity conducting paint instead, but no joy. Threw in the towel and replaced the entire binnacle with one from a breaker with good needles and with as luck had it, with as near as damit the same mileage. ( Fuel content needles must match before swopping ) Still to do; Rear O/S door. Lock/unlock inop, window inop but I can hear motor whirring. Good car, used daily. On a start up from cold, engine idles straightaway at about 12/13 hundred revs until it warms, then slowly drops down to about 6/7 hundred. I presume this is correct, but would like to decrease this to about 1000 rpm if poss. Any ideas? Roald.

Looks like we`re both in the middin. Not really surprised about the Lexus Exeter comment. There`s a guy in Huddersfield who reckons he can sort any blankcutting/programming Lexus key problem. Sounds like he has some hi-tech gear. I`ll see what he says.

Thanks for the replys fellas, I`ve just been in touch with sgs-eng, and they`ve emailed back. I`m posting all 4 struts to them and they will re-gas them. The pass side boot strut will only come out in its compressed state ( to clear the fuel tank vent pipe )which takes a bit of doing when you`re laid on your back inside the boot, even when the strut is supposedly soft. The other three are a doddle! Apparently all the radio will need is taking through the anti theft sequence, because the battery was flat and subsequently disconnected. No use doing that yet, because, to be on the safe side, I`ll disconnect the battery again when I have a fiddle with the instrument needles and binnacle. I`ll keep you posted.

Thanks again Rick, My GS is a `95er The key I have is indeed black, so that must be the original master. I an not bothered about a valet key, although I do understand where they could be usefull. I`d be happy with a 2nd key identical to the one I already have. Don`t really want to go to Lexus yet. I`ll contact some of these Ebay key adverts and see what I can glean.

I have only one key for my Mk 1 GS, and I`ve already nearly lost it twice. It will manually unlock the doors/boot and the ignition of course; and it has a small button on the edge which will remotely lock and unlock the doors I really need at least a similar key as a spare, so how do I go about obtaining one? Were 3 keys supplied when the car was new? Were they all the same? Thanks for any info.

Update. Morning Guys, The Mk1`s doing just fine. Decided in the end to renew all 4 brakediscs and pads plus a front brake hose that looked ok but was bulging under pressure. (Not easy to check without help, but the brake pedal didn`t feel quite right) Removed the front camcover and finally found evidence that the cambelt and the aux belt had been renewed. So that`s ok for a while. Flew through the MoT yesterday, but jobs still to be tackled :- Gas struts, especially boot lid, Rear driverside door, lock inoperative and window not moving but motor whirring. Both radio and aerial non op. Tacho needle still not lit up. Goes like s of an s, so quite pleased really.

12.6, after standing? Looks good to me. And your alt`s doing its stuff.

If you get two years out of a cheapo battery, you are doing well. So if your battery is original and is over nine years old, then I think it`s on borrowed time.

Thanks Rick, Managed to sneak out today for a quick look, removed the small panel by the gas pedal and on the reverse side of it is info. of the fuses within. Top row, 5th fuse from the front is a 15A for the SRS. Tomorrow, I might get chance to check it out. BTW, none on the passenger side.

Update. The speedo needle has miraculously mended itself. The tacho needle is still dead. Front o/s caliper piston seized; Slider pins fine. Caliper gripping disc, but the discs themseves look very good - just slight edge lipping No luck so far with the airbag/SRS light, Are there any more fuses apart from the main underbonnet ones? Gas struts for the bootlid are shot, and the bonnet struts are borderline. LOL

Interesting post Rick, I`ll investigate that possibility when the instrument cluster is out and the needles are on the table, Not as urgent as the `wobble` and airbag light, but I can`t see it passing the next MOT as it is. The tacho needle is completely out; The speedo needle is glowing for about a cm. from the pivot, then flickering towards the tip. The fuel/temp smaller needles look ok.

Thanks Alan, The car has history, but strangely no mention of cam belt change. Being non interference, the worst thing that can happen, if the belt snaps, is to come to a stop in the middle of nowhere. But yes, it`s a priority. Looks like the speedo and tacho needle lack of illumination is going to be a problem .

Hello Guys (Gals?) After months of dithering and hours of LOC post reading, I am testing Lexus ownership with an old GS300. A Mk1, because (a) it wont have vvt problems and (b) it has a non-interference engine. With 130k on the clock, it starts and runs well; no noise, smooth gear changes and slightly better m.p.g. than I was expecting, however, there are a a few issues that I must address quickly. (a) The SRS/airbag light is on. (b) Slight wheel wobble, only sometimes, around 40 mph. ( Wheel balancing/warped discs/calipers I don`t know which is favourite) © Instrument cluster illumination. I can see that there must be at least one bulb out, but for some reason the speedo and rev-counter needles are hard to see. Apart from that, I will be changeing the cambelt, ( no change info in the service book ), the o/s rear door is electrically dead and the boot lid has no lifting assistance. ( and it`s heavy - spoiler ) I`m looking foreward to working on the car, so any pointers on any or all of the above will be more than welcome. Many Thanks.

Not surprised at the outcome. Mercs went through a bad patch `98 to `03 with rust problems. To combat this in 2003, they re-introduced using galvanised sheet steel in body production. This affected different models in different quarters of `03 Poor painting procedures were also blamed, together with the introduction of water based paints.