culky

Cheers GarethR B)

Thanks for checking Chris! yep, tallies with what I later found out..

Hi Mat, Definitely not 2nd-hand. I don't want to be doing this again next week :winky: or more importantly, to have it happen again at high rpms. I've just rechecked, it was actually £42.35 ex VAT. This was from Lexus Guildford.. I was surprised by the price because I was guessing it to be around the £100+ mark. We both said the word 'crankshaft pulley' a number of times and I quoted the chassis number. I'll post more after I go to collect it on Saturday. No doubt it's a crankshaft pulley bolt or something... I think I'll also ring to check that we were both talking about the serpentine belt crankshaft pulley and not the cambelt crankshaft pulley... Edited to add... Thanks for bringing this up - Lexus had omitted to say that of the 2 pulleys available they'd not asked and chosen the crankshaft cambelt pulley (why would I be more likely to need one of these?!). £203 ex VAT for the fanbelt part of the pulley with the harmonic damper in it. At least I won't have a wasted trip to go and pick it up now.. I also added a new crankshaft pulley bolt for good measure..I might as well do a thorough job.

At the risk of posting a lot of chaff to this post, Since I've got the cams exposed, something's been bothering me.. With both cams at the TDC position (both have their markers at the 12 o'clock position), my crank pulley (the inner ring, which is still fine, is pointing at the 5 deg mark, rather than 0. Everything I've read and been led to believe about cam timing, including an electronic manual on the GS300 suggests that the cams should be at 12 o'clock with the crank pulley at 0. Can anyone confirm this? The engine has always run fine, and continued to do so when i started stripping it down, so I'm thinking logically I should just put the new belt on with these settings, but it seems to go against what I've read.. Any help or advice gratefully received.. Darren

Hi TigerFish, thanks for the quick response. That pretty much confirms the conclusions I'd been coming to. I'll take a closer look at the pulley and see whether anything ingenious springs to mind. There's the old standby of a breaker bar against the floor whilst cranking the engine over, if it comes down to it I suppose. Many thanks, Darren

I decided int he end that this was an opportune time to change the cambelt, since it was on my list of things to do in the near future. There are some instructions on one of the MkIV sites but I'll take some pics and post my own in case its useful to anyone in the future. It's been relatively quick to get to the cambelt and pulley - I've: i) removed the battery and airbox ii) drained the coolant and removed the radiator iii) taken the engine front covers off, rotated the crankshaft until the cam and crank marks are lined up, then locked the cams with a cam-locking tool (it was for my K-engined Caterham, but seems to fit :winky: ) All in all about 1.5hrs work I've ordered a new crankpulley (about £45) and full belt kit. I'm not sure how to lock the engine though? I may need to raise the front of the car and have a squint underneath - is there some way of locking the flywheel through the transmission-case? Anyone got any info on how to do this? Thanks in advance for any help..

I should have searched harder! Looks like it's not uncommon.. http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t32237.html

Has anyone heard of this happening before? My car's a Mk1 Gs300 Sport. I started the car this morning, after driving it yesterday with no problems. backing it out of the garage I heard a fanbelt squeal. "Ah.. I think, better check and change the belt soon." Then i realise the steering is heavy... Popped the car back in the garage and popped the bonnet. The serpentine/fan belt was VERY loose. The belt itself was intact so my prime suspect was the tensioner pulley, sure enough it's moved to it's full extent (to take up the slack, which makes sense) Then I noticed a metal ring laying on the cover panel at the bottom of the engine bay - it's the outer ring of the crankshaft pulley The weird thing is the pulley ring doesn't look to have sheared. I don't know if it's normally a compression-fit or not but I'm guessing an entirely new crankshaft pulley will be needed. I'm also not sure how much work is going to be involved in replacing it. I'm guessing I can do it in situ, although it looks like it's going to be easier to remove the rad and front of the car..

Superb! Cheers for that - I'll take a look.

Hi all, I missed out on the group buy a while back for these but am interested in getting some - does anyone know if it's still possible to get hold of any? I had a quick look on the web and can't find any LED places anywhere that seem to sell them! Thanks in advance for any help, Darren

Ah-ha.. The mystery is solved. Many thanks! :)

Hello all. My Mk1 seems to be very happy following the diy-service i've given it. So far i've replaced pads, plugs, leads, filters, oil, coolant and refrigerant in the happy knowledge that i've also saved a few quid. But i've been a bit stumped by the brake fluid. The handbook and the filler cap both state DOT3, but the stuff seems to fall in the hens-teeth and rocking-horse poop category. I know I can't mix DOT4 and DOT5.1 because one's hygroscopic and the other isn't, so bad things happen. But what about DOT3 and DOT4? People seem to be of the opinion these shouldn't be mixed either. Is this the case or can I flush the system a couple of times with DOT 4 and convert to that - at least it's more convenient to get hold of. If no-one knows I guess a trip to Toyota/Lexus Guildford will be called for.. Thanks for your help, Darren

Thanks guys.. Dave, £74 sounds very reasonable. I'd imagined it'd be more. If mine turns out to be a different issue and preeder's solution doesn't work fo rme, i'll go the local aircon specialist route - the big advantage as you say is that they obviously know what they're doing.. Brett - the actual refrigerant cans are about 19.99 - the 40 quid pack contains a can plus the dispenser and gauge which you can resue if necessary. All the best, Darren

Ah-ha!! Thanks a million Preeder. That makes sense. Wish i'd just been a bit more gutsy and kept going. Sounds like that's what I needed to do. I'm going off to the garage to try again.... Could you do me an enormous favour some time and let me know what yours reads on the gauge when the gauge is connected but the aircon isn't on? The only reason I ask is that I did what you suggested but have pretty much run out of refrigerant. I think i was starting to see some movement on the gauge tho and the air *was* slightly cooler. Thing is - when I switched the aircon off, the gauge read well up the yellow range and almost into the red. I don't know if this is normal or not when the aircon is switched off.. To be on the safe side, I depressurised the system a little. I may go out and get another bottle of refrigerant so i can continue testing. Thanks so much for all your help! Happy driving.. Darren

Having read through the archives, I seem doomed to join the ranks of those with aircon troubles. Earlier this year I noticed the aircon wasn't pushing out any cold air so thought i'd give one of the home top-up kits a go. With the engine running and aircon on full cold, i connected up the gauge to the Low pressure valve and sure enough it was registering nothing. I added a small amount of refrigerant to take the reading from nothing up to 'ok' When i reached OK, the engine changed from a slow to a fast idle (presumably because presurising the system put a load on the compressor and the engine compensated) but then the pressure went down to zero. Switching off the aircon and engine, then repeating the process, still shows no pressure on the aircon pressure gauge. Should I assume there's a good leak somewhere? Oddly, with the engine running but the aircon switched OFF, the gauge when connected to the Low Pressure valve indicates a good pressure. It's only when i hit the AC button in the cabin to switch it on that the pressure drops down to nothing. Can anyone explain what's happening or how the system works for me to get these readings? I'd expect them to be the other way round (if the system was working) or for both to be nothing (if it wasn't) I'm starting to accept that an expensive trip to Lexus Guildford may be in order if i ever want air-conditioned air again On the plus side, I've just given the car an oilchange (that oil filter is in a blooming annoying position) and will be treating it to a well-deserved coolant/plugs/leads change when Lexus get the leads in. Many thanks for any help Darren

Had mine for just on 2 years now and it's covered 15k (it was up to a heady 56,000 miles as of yesterday) flawlessly (touch wood) apart from one brake bulb! The only thing i've shelled out on has been a pair of falkens for the back which came in at about 185 the pair (not bad for 10" rears!) It's done the 15k miles on LPG which hasn't helped the consumption but it's only costing 1/3 to 1/2 as much to fill up now :winky: As has already been said - the Mk1 Sport is automotive pornography. A little kid called out 'nice car!' whilst driving through a car park in Christchurch this summer, which made our day :D I've no plans to change mine and aim to keep it until the 250,000 miles mark if i can. On a seperate note - got a taxi in Portugal last week - an old merc 190, which had covered over a million kilometers according to the driver! Happy driving, Darren

My tyres are bald on the inside too :( Popping across to Bracknell tyre and battery who have saved the day - £115 each for a couple of 275/35/18 FK451's was much better value even than blackcircles.com AND they could get 'em in next day! wahey!!

For what it's worth, mine's run faultlessly on LPG since it was converted (only about 7,000 miles ago..) others I know have run for 90k without trouble. Starting procedure is usually system-dependant but most start on petrol - the LPG wont switch in until the engine temp reaches (in my case) 30 degrees and until the engine is at over 1800rpm. I'm afraid I havent cared enough to investigae the fuel consumption in any detail but I did a rough estimation the other night and its pretty close - any fuel consumption's always going to depend on how the car is driven though - I drive more sedately on LPG and tend to be slightly more lead-footed on the petrol. I can say though that my regular commutes from Chester to Surrey and back now cost me £36 instead of £52.. I tend to spend the saving on some Optimax for the caterham and go out and enjoy myself :D Definitely worth it if you're planning on keeping the car- I think its a great car and am looking to run mine for another 200k before i bin it..it'll be interesting to see if the LPG has any negative affects during this time!

Thanks Chips and Brettster. That sounds much more probable - I hadn't even thought of that. I'll go down that route and see what i can find - a bad connection or some other kind of open circuit might mean it thinks i'm asking for cold air, unless its on max. Cheers guys!

Hmm... A bit of prodding around under the bonnet when I got home this evening and I've found the heater control valve on a bracket on the firewall, just to the passenger side of centre. It has a control cable going to it which pushes an arm towards the passenger side to shut it off or towards the drivers side to open. It has two water pipes - one running downwards and one running off towards the driver With the engine running, I twiddled the heat knob and it operates the valve perfectly - from fully open to fully shut. So I seem to have: hot water flowing through the heater (because i'm capable of getting hot air) a heater control valve that opens and closes a working fan that's pushing the air into the cabin I can only imagine the problem must be a blocked heater core.. does that sounds reasonable. Sounds like an expensive trip to Lexus....

Hi folks. Hoping someone can point me in the right direction here. I've got a Mk1 (1996) sport that i use at weekends. Last weekend on a trip to Birmingham, the wife and I notice cold air coming out of the vents. A/C was not switched on and the temperature control was set to a constant 21 (which is where it normally sits). Twiddling of the temp knob provides no more heat - its constant cool air. The only reaction we get is by cranking the temp to maximum (30), then we get hot air. Anything below 30 results in cold. Throughout our testing, the fan speed worked okay and the aircon would switch on and off it's just the temperature control. The car was on a motorway run and the engine temp was rock solid in the middle of the temperature gauge like normal. What things can I check? From browsing the american site and trying to study the limited heater section on my MODS cd, It *looks* as though the rotary temp knob connects to an ECU which then controls a motor, which activates a rod which connects to a heater control valve. Does anyone know if this sounds right? a few folks with soarers and LS's in the states seem to have had similar-sounding 'HCV' problems but some seem to have physical connections and some dont. The problem's liveable with but I'd like to try and diagnose it a bit further in an evening than try and get it in to Lexus for a diagnostic. Unfortunately it looks as though most of the heater system is buried within the bowels of the dash. The fact that i can actually GET both hot and cold is encouraging and I'm hoping it's just a sticking valve or control mechanism of some sort... Thanks in advance for any help Darren

Thanks eMJay. Its reassuring to hear from someone who's been through it. My battery has just reached its 8th birthday and it looks like the original. The car had occasionally been a little slower to start on cold mornings, but not enough to get me worried. I guess the battery was on its way out. Looks like a trip to halfords tonight then. I think the battery is so deeply discharged that it's probably fit for the bin anyway.. Wish it wasn't the same weekend that i needed to replace the central heating pump in the house though! :D All the best, Darren

Jumped into the GS this morning to go to work after it had sat idle for 4 days. the remote central locking unlocked - key in the ignition and the steering wheel moved to position (a tiny bit slower than usual - i was soon to find out why) Tried to turn the engine on and apart from the dead-battery click that was it. I had an almost completely dead battery. Soooo. As i didnt have time to fix it, i locked the car with the keyfob (it locked) and went to hop in the trusty (but much less refined) clio. As i went to do so the GS got extremely upset and started crying. Well..i assume it was crying it was more of a wailing, alarm-going-off noise. I unlocked it again with the keyfob and the alarm stopped. 'Ahhh' I thought, the alarm must be getting confused somehow because of the low battery so this time i locked the car by key - the alarm went off again a few seconds later. I thought key-locking the car disabled the alarm? I guess not. I didnt particularly want to leave the car unlocked for the day so in deperation and because i was very late I got in the car and pressed the doorlock button from inside, then got out and closed the drivers door with the door handle held up. Hopefully that'll do for the time being. Can anyone explain whats causing the alarm to go off (I dont think its a dodgy alarm that's caused the flat battery, its the OEM one and it hasn't gone off overnight or while i've been in the house the past few days) All doors and windows are fully closed, i can only suppose that the battery is low enough to provide a dodgy supply to the alarm ECU which its interpreting as an intrusion. Any ideas? I'll have to try and charge it tonight. I'm guessing if once its charged properly, I can put my voltmeter across it and check that its around the 14v mark. That'd indicate that the charging circuit is working properly wouldn't it? Thanks for any help peeps Darren

Ahhh! Cheers dude.

..an 'A' Service on a GS involves replacing the plugs, 'cos i know for a fact that Chester lexus didn't on mine.. Cheers! Darren