preeder1963

Hi Keith I'd suspect the battery 1st. Like previous poster its the cheaper of the options. Mine had exact same symptoms when battery had expired, and as its large capacity it seems to hang on to a bit of life after its due for the bin. That cold spell we had at the end of last week would have been enough to put it into intensive care if it was on its last legs methinks regs Paul

KNIGHTS

It says on his web-site the miracle connosieur is £500. Expensive, but I'd lose approaching that taking a day off work and by polishing my car myself I'd probably blow it up. On other hand my car is only worth £3000 and I'm keeping it because of reliability and performance etc. Also I still really like it. So economically a big no-no but might be worth a punt on the £300 option.

I assume non-interference means that if the belt goes whilst driving the valves will not impact the top of the piston. Although I didn't get Lexus Croydon to change my belt it was them that prompted it with the warning that I'd be writing my car off if the risk didn't pay off for me. Despite FLSH they couldn't tell if my belt had ever been changed.

I'd get it done now if it was me. The belt is cheap itself and getting an independent to fit it was a couple of hundred I remember. The service can happen later - there aren't any service items that overlap with the actions needed to get the belt changed IMHO. I know if it was me the belt would go at 2 months 3 weeks and I'd be looking for a new engine.

Cheers Maneesh what does IIRC mean?

Does anyone know if the GS300 sport mk1 is already lowered in comparison with a standard GS300 Mk1? I can't afford the full coilover optuion right now but the Eibacj site site etc all give lowering figures against a GS300 and don't differentiate between a standard and a sport. I really don't want to pick car up looking exactly same and get told that the springs were already non-standard and that I've achieved a drop of 10mm. cheers Paul

Yes, with aircon off I'm well up past the yellow (alert zone) into red (for gods sake phone the pentagon) region. Its worth shaking the can to check whther theres any left, its quite deceptive. The 12inch high can was more than enough to fill my system up from nothing.

Darren - DON'T GIVE UP & GO TO LEXUS!! You were on the right track and I did exactly the same thing as you. But when revs changed and pressure dropped I carried on pumping in refrigerant and pressure gradually started coming up from zero. It took a long time but it eventually it got to the ok zone and has been working fine for over a week now. My initial pressure was zero and the sight glass was clear so mine was empty. I did therefore think there must be a leak but I used the pressure guage to test yesterday and it looks to be the same. I can only conclude that although there must be a small leak somewhere it took a few years to empty out and that the sealant in the Halfords EZ cool can has been enough to seal it up. IMHO what is actually happening is that when the system is empty the compressor won't run. You connect into the circuit via the tyre type valve and you register zero pressure - understandable its empty. You pump into a limited volume space as the circuit is closed and the pressure builds up quickly. Sensing the coolant in the system the compressor kicks in and hence your revs change as the engione takes the load. The system is now a complete circuit and you're connected to the full volume of the aircon system hence the pressure drops back to (apparent) zero. If at this point you persevere the coolant will very gradually build up and you will notice a green swirling chaos of fluid and bubbles rushing past the sight glass in the high pressuree end down at the front of the engine. Its as the compressor kicks in and opens up the circuit the initial coolant you put in has a much larger space to fill and hence decreasing the pressure that you're giving up thinking something is wrong. Try again. When I did it I thought the system must have already been full and that the extra coolant had blown a seal hence the sudden drop off in pressure. Good luck!!

OK, so thanks to Fluff I've got my new centre cap locking bolt kit on order for Tuesday at Toyota/Lexus Croydon, but really needed the wheels off to get brakes done this morning (Sat) As I'm doing 1000 miles a week at moment the brakes are keeping most of South of England awake and I'm not getting time to have work done during the week. Tried Halfords for Torx sockets etc etc and still not getting anywhere and in last resort popped into my Mum's place on way home. I explained how one piece of plastic was stopping progress of my big revamp and that the problems with Lexus approach to customer care were symptomatic of the problems in the UK that will probably in the end bring this country to its knees and so its probably time to emigrate while we've still got a chance. My Mum walked off and disappeared into her garage. She came out with some long nosed pliers which she inserted into the centre cap bolt and instead of squeezing handles she pulled them apart so the prongs spread out into the star shaped socket in the bolt head. Whilst still pulling outward she unscrewed the bolts and gave me the caps in a polythene bag she got from Tesco. Got the brakes done this morning. I'm trying out Mintex discs from Prolex (arrived day after ordering), and EBC green stuff pads ordered off Ebay (arived within 48 hours). They have a slightly better feel than standard, a bit more positive, but it might just be psychological. Anyway it will be interesting to see how this combination stands up to wear and tear on my daily trip. My mechanics said the pads have kevlar in them which will stand up to wear better, but will probably wear the discs quicker - I'll post back on progress as this has been a budget solution. If anyone has any probs/queries of an engineering /maintenance type nature drop me a line and I'll see what I can do. I'm probably seeing my Mum some time during the week.

OK thanks again Fluff called Toyota?Lexus again with the part no. and made them look it up on their computer, and they have confirmed that it is the kit for the Series 1 Sport. Will be in Tuesday so this item may not run to two weeks which will be a bonus. Lucky you have a photo memory re: posts cheers Paul

OK thanks Fluff I'll give it a go. Lexus Croydon don't know about this kit, so therefore neither did I. Which post did you get it from, I tried all sorts of key words in my search and couldn't come up with anything. Cheers Paul

Yep, it's a drama! The unlocking key I received (after they said it had arrived and two visits later it was behind someone's desk all along) was for a different car, they say the plastic one for the GS Series 1 is no longer available. (So why not sell me nothing instead of something that won't work?). They also say they have had this problem before, (they just didn't mention/remember it when they took the order and my money). Apparently there is an alternate centre cap available with another type of key - but why bring out a new centre cap design for a car no longer in production? Doesn't make sense. Put a hammer & chisel in with my spare wheel, or buy a new set of alloys all down to a 50p piece of plastic? So, biz as usual. I want to change a wheel and we're into unexplored territory and debating various solutions which may or may not work. I just want to get the wheel off without Lexus part No. LPZ410-SO786 (hammer & chisel). Sorry 'bout rant but I seem to remember this is the sort of stupid little problem that made me wonder about the purpose of life & stopped me improving my car last time.

I've never got more than 350 miles out of 70 litres so I think you're doing quite well there. Staying at around 70 prob makes alot of difference.