Pielight

Ive often wondered of the merits of TVD for road use. A load of extra complexity for little gain I would think.

TVD failure, albeit at 138k miles. Hopefully one off and who knows how the cars been treated, e.g. regular track days. Scary bit is price....every bit as bad as expected. What he eventually paid seemed very cheap relatively speaking, but in isolation not so cheap. Glad I've been getting the scheduled diff oil changes (seems in states it's 'for life' so maybe is a factor). I don't know if a dealer diff oil change includes changing the oil in both TVD clutch units as well as in the main diff. 🤔 Glad to have relax!

I thought the bleeps contributed to the sense of drama during hard acceleration! 😂

I’ve been testing it in S+ mode. I also tried both manual and automatic. It’s quite difficult testing it at all on public roads, due to reaching very high speeds very quickly! 😱

From memory, I think you can adjust the point relative to the redline where the 2 red square (visual alerts) appear on the tacho in S+ mode. I would have presumed that this would also trigger the bleep, but that doesn’t explain why my bleep has stopped sounding.

The bleep to warn of engine rpm exceeding the red line is no longer sounding on my GSF. I suspect that there is some menu option to toggle this on/off, but after I quick trawl I’ve not been able to find it. If anyone can shed any light as to whether there is a parameter in the menus that affects this, it would be much appreciated . Thanks

The need to change the fluid is an obvious bone of contention, but what seems to be universally accepted by those in the know’, is that you should NOT flush these transmissions. There also seems to be agreement, even amongst the periodical oil change advocates (eg. car care nut), that if an oil change has not been carried out on an older transmission (e.g. +100k miles) then a lot more harm than good will come from an oil change. With my 39k mile August 2017 GSF, I’ve been procrastinating ‘trust Toyota and leave well alone’ vs ‘listen to the YouTube/social media experts’ and distrust Toyota’. I was leaning heavily in favour of the latter, but now question the notion that Toyota state ‘lifetime’ as a sales tactic. Thinking about it, I very much doubt whether a gear oil change at 6 years/60k miles would influence anyone in their choice of car at all. Furthermore, gearbox failure/malfunction even after 10 or 15 years (or any age for that matter) would not enhance the reputation of a manufacturer. Lexus, more than most, seem to place very high value on their products being reputedly bulletproof, so I am not totally convinced there is any real incentive for them to claim ‘for life’ if that is not the case. That would also not align with them sticking to annual/10k mile oil/filter changes when other manufacturers went down the 2 year road which is probably a lot more of a sales attraction. Im also considering the fact that ‘inspection’ of the transmission oil is in fact a scheduled service requirement. What exactly the inspection involves I don’t know, but if it includes evaluating the condition as well as a level check, then this would mitigate any potential for unanticipated oil degradation, as presumably an oil change would need to be carried out if the condition is found to be sub standard. This principle has been applied for many years in industries such as rail. The huge diesel engines in locomotives (which can hold a couple of hundred gallons of lube oil) have oil changes based on chemical analysis rather than periodicity. In the case of a car that holds a small amount of engine oil, the cost of analysis isn’t worth doing when it can be changed relatively cheaply/easily. The procedure for F car transmission oil change is pretty complex, and given the much longer anticipated life of the oil, then an analysis in whatever form that may be (perhaps even just visual), could well be more appropriate. There is also the consideration of the possibility of a transmission oil change not being carried out correctly, i.e. level checks at precisely the correct temperature. Even Lexus technicians are unlikely to have much experience in doing this. For me the ‘leave well alone’ and ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ principles are starting to look pretty compelling in this case. In conclusion, I’m leaning towards trusting Toyota…but then again there is always that nagging doubt! 😩🤣

That's not bad at all. Which dealer? Lexus Cambridge insist it doesn't need doing and didn't quote. Thanks

Nearly two years on is there anything to update on? I imagine there's no further noticeable change since you gave update a couple of days after getting the fluid changed. I don't suppose you recall the cost? Thanks

I have a cheap Honda Civic meant as a runabout (to save miles, short journeys and winter use on my 2017 GSF), but I find I use the Civic on longer trips too. Wife also has Renault Captur I can have use of. I also have 3 motorcycles which more than scratch the 'driving thrill' itch. So I usually do around 5 - 6 k miles per year with the GSF (now at 39k miles). I find this approach keeps driving the GSF 'fresh' and I still feel a buzz each time The 4k miles or so that I do in the civic more than pays for itself in saving the depreciation (miles and condition) of the GSF.

Just a quick update.... strangely this fault seems to have resolved itself and I've not had the issue since my last post.

Thanks Colin this is really useful. There is definitely play on the pedal (certainly more than the 1mm stipulated minimum). I got the brake lights checked and they only come on when the pedal very lightly applies the brake, i.e. they are not actived within the travel of free play. My drive is on a slight slope, so I was able to use that to see how hard the brakes needed to be applied to activate the brake lights...the minimum needed was insufficient to stop the car on the slope, so deceleration would be negligible when the brake lights activate. I'm satisfied that they are working correctly. That situation is the same both without vacuum present or with the engine running. I believe that the issue may be that vacuum is not being maintained as well as it was and I now need to press the pedal significantly harder to operate the switch than I'm used to. If the pedal is pressed hard enough it starts every time.

That's a good call....it could well be that the servo is not holding the vacuum as long as it used to and I was used to just pressing lightly on the brake when starting. I guess the check valve would allow the vacuum to leak off rather than sealing it in.

Thanks - I've just started the car without issue after it had stood a week - if there was a leak you would expect you'd expect a problem after that length of time...unless the problem is intermittent. Very strange.

Good call thanks...I will try that.

Yes that's right...when the issue occurs there seems to be little to no perceivable movement. There car had stood idle a week and I tried starting it... It started no problem at all. I'm beginning to wonder if the switch is adjustable and has gone out of adjustment requiring the pedal to be pressed harder than before. Thanks for reply.

On a handful of occasions GSF very recently, I've had a trouble starting my GSF. On each occasion, when pressing the brake pedal to allow the car to start, the pedal is rock solid as if mechanically locked in place. This I believe, is preventing the contacts of the brake pedal micro switch being made and hence the issue with starting. I had to press the pedal VERY hard for the car to start. Any ideas...thanks.

Thanks...I'll take a look at that 👍🏼

The benefits of AVS is subjective ('Im impressed), but a major benefit of my post April (August) 2017 GSF is road tax (now just £180 vs £695 pa of the earlier models).

I'm noticing customer service niggles that weren't there when I became a Lexus owner just 7 years ago. I have a BMW motorcycle and like the cars they have issues (none that affect riding), but the fuss free way they've dealt with these and the sheer competence of the bike itself has more than compensated for my move away from Japanese bikes. If satisfaction with Lexus continues to slip, I could well be tempted to go the same way with my choice of car.

I wonder if there are businesses who could repair faulty headlights for much less than the cost of a new unit? 🤔

Amazing! Those cars are the pinacle of Lexus engineering (or any automotive engineering for that matter) with all stops being pulled out to build the best quality product possible to put them on the map. I doubt there's any other car that could have served you so well for all those years and miles.

How can they acknowledge that it failed prematurely compared to the norm, allude to paying for costs if a similar issue arises, but not reimburse you. If they agree it's a quality issue, what's the difference between them paying for the repair at the time or retrospectively. Seems like a ploy to get you to stay loyal to the brand, without doing anything meaningful to address quality issues.

Great abilities but not sure about reliability compared to gr/F cars?

Thanks Barry some great points...I'd love both, but I also have motorcycles which if anything are more expensive to run..tyres and servicing costs in particular. I also have an old civic as a runaround and wife has a Renault Captur, both of which help with running costs and keep my GSF of the winter salted roads. An advantage of the GSF compared to RCF of course is back seat space. Yes, fun on UK roads is definitely a big factor which is why I have different the bikes to tick the different boxes as you describe. From your and others replies, I'm frightened to test drive a GR as I'd inevitably end up in a dilemma!