Tim750R

I suppose it depends on the 'Dealer' - if it was a Lexus agent, I would have thought they should have checked the A/C before putting it up for sale. If its a trader, then who knows what sort of response you'll get from them or what sort of cheap bodge they might do to sort these problems in which case you might be better off sorting them yourself or by someone you can trust.

If the A/C compressor is kicking in, then it must have at least some gas in it. I have a local guy who will drain the system, pressure test, then refill with the correct volume of refrigerant and weight of oil and a dye (for future leak diagnosis) for about 70 quid + VAT. I'm sure there are many other similarly competitive places around near you.

The wheel wobble is an odd one which I used to get but seems to have disappeared now. I've heard everything form wheel balance, buckled wheels, warped disks, sticking brake pistons and upper wishbones to be the cause, so let me know when you find out which one is causing yours! :o

Oh, and I think most owners manuals recommend towing with it out of overdrive too :winky:

The extra oil cooler is (usually) for the auto tranny, and even if its overheating it would unlikely register on the engine temp guage. Manufacturers have to cover themselves, and for all they know, you might be towing a ton and a half caravan or boat up and down mountains which would put an abnormal load on the torque convertor - hence the additional cooler. If you haven't fitted one, I would regularly check the transmission fluid (if its got too hot it goues a sort of brown colour and looks burnt).

From the other comments I've read about these auto-boxes they do seem to be bullet-proof, but I imagine having to swap out a blown tranny would be costly...

Hi eMJay, I thought you had bought this from a dealer - shouldn't they sort out the A/C and the steering wheel vibes you are getting?

Now you've got the mechanism out, why don't you give it to someone in the TV/Video repair business - alot of the mechanisms use 'generic' cogs and pulleys. Maybe a long shot but its worth a try - if I was still in the trade I'd suggest you could send it to me, but I switched to computers 15 yrs ago, sorry...

Hi, does it make a whirring noise when you try to eject the magazine, or is it totally lifeless? There must be a fuse in there somewhere...

Good luck

Small exterior children in Vinyl??? Now there's a thought for the ultimate auto-accessory! You wouldn't get crisps and sticky sweets stuck down the back of the seats either

Are the sport logos on the rear quarterlights etched, I thought they were just stickers...?

I think the colour of Mudzs car - a sort of darker grey-green is a good compromise between black and silver - very 'up-market'.

My Sport has locking wheel nuts - but you have to get the centre wheel caps off first and I reckon thats an even better anti-theft deterent :winky:

All the black ones I've seen have cream leather whereas the silver ones seem to have grey, so that might be a factor to consider - its all down to personal choice in the end. My neighbour thinks the privacy glass makes mine look like a gangster's car...!

My 10" rears aren't buckled (checked when new tyres fitted recently) so they don't all buckle despite a high mileage - perhaps its because its mostly been cruising round the M25 - its just a shame Lexus couln't find a way to make the lacquer stay on :duh:

By the way, my service record says 'sport' on it too, so perhaps that's a fairly good indicator, and someone told me if its an import rather than a UK model, all the warning labels in the engine bay won't be in English...can anyone else verify whether this is a good check?

Good luck with your purchase - owned by the head of a valet company, it really should be totally spotless or its not a good advert for his/her company

Not sure whats going on in the S/H car industry, but I've been trying to sell my GS300 Sport privately for a few weeks including advertising on this board and the prices seem to be dropping daily...perhaps its because the price of fuel is uncertain at the moment and anythng that does less than 30mpg is bad news???

Renault Clio anyone???

Good point, especially the 10" ones...

I had mine checked when they fitted new tyres recently and they said they were good, hardly any 'run-out' at all, but looking at them from the inside, its not surprising they buckle anyway - the spindly spokes are right on the edge of the wheel so you've got almost the full 10" of leverage.

I looked at a few websites about refurbing, and some say that they can't re-do the diamond cutting on the faces because it weakens the wheel!

Hey mudzs, I see you have the 9 spoke diamond cut wheels too - did you get them refurbed?

Perhaps the impending price rise on petrol is putting people off

Hi mudzs - add 5 grand and I'll throw in the rest of the car too :winky:

Is it smoke or water vapour? Could be early signs of a blowing head gasket. If you look in the oil filler, does it look mildly milky at all?

Were they ones with diamond cut faces like the 9 spoke on the GS sport? I looked up some refurb places and they don't seem keen to do the diamond cutting again cos if they need to take off too much metal it will weaken the wheel!

Has anyone else come across this problem?

All the corrosion on mine is on the diamond cut faces, not the painted part. There doesn't seem much point in refurbing them if they can't be re-cut...

Thanks Colin, I fitted the Toyo's - not a bad price and they seem quite quiet too.

I asked the fitter to check the wheels to see if they were buckled and he said not - it nearly made up for the cost of the tyres. They didn't need much in the way of balance weights - not bad for a car with 135K on the clock :D

Hi

Has anyone tried Toyo T1S's on the 10" rears? My local tyre emporium said they were grat but might wear out a bit quick...

My MK1 Sport spoiler has a brake light in it - its a '97 model so maybe all you need is the later spoiler...

Thanks for the advice Keith, I will keep them 'lubed' from now on!

Do you know if the new centre cap comes with a new bolt as well as the key?

TIA

Hi guys

On a GS300, has anyone else had any trouble undoing the bolt that holds the centre cap on the wheel - the one that you need to remove to get at the wheel nuts?

My little plastic tool has become all mashed up - 3 of the bolts came out, but the last one (always the one you really need to undo) won't budge for love nor money!

Ouch! 50kg drawbar load max...I've got 120kg!!! I think it must be rated for a smallish box trailer or caravan only.

Extra330 - you made you're own towbar? Is that legal???

Is that 1200Kg braked WITH the oil cooler or does the capacity increase after its fitted?

Also, because its a sport its pretty low on the ground already - my trailer package is 1500kg with 120kg nose-weight. I'm worried it will scrape its backside...!