ajones1722

No photos yet sorry! Got it on Sunday and its dark when I go work and dark when I get home so, this weekend for deffo. In the meantime, observations........ The GS300 has been very disappointing in terms of torque. I know Ive come down from 280bhp 4 litres but I still thought a 3 litre straight 6 would be quick. It seems rev highly but the pull doesn't seem comensurate with engine revs. The best way I can describe it is like a slipping clutch on a manual box. It's the first 300 Ive driven so I can't be sure that its just the way they drive. Reading the forums I have suspected a knackered Torque Converter so I took it to lexus nottingham and to their credit they took it out on the road there and then but the mechanic seemed to thinkit was ok. when we got back he dipped the tranmission oil and he said it looked ok, maybe slightly discoloured but he said he'd seen alot worse. When I got home tonight , even though its 'F' cold and snowing I did that disconnect the battery thing to reset the ECU's and the gearbox 'learnt' memory. Took it for a brief test drive in a blizzard and it didn't seem all that different. I'm not sure I left the battery disconnected long enough (about 10 mins) as when I reconnected it all the radio stations were still tuned in, although the steering wheel position had been erased. Its going in for a 'B' service on friday and also having the transmission oil flushed/changed so we'll see how things are after that, On the plus side I feel the car handles very well despite other recent negative threads about the 300's handling. The 400 I had even with the dynamic handling pack was a bit scary round corners , it is a huge car though! The fuel economy has been interesting too. So far I'm finding the 300 more thirsty than the 400 ! I've mentioned this previously but I drove from Nottingham to Sevenoaks in the 400 at 70mph on cruise and returned 31.5 overall. Same jouney back in the 300, again 70mph on cruise returned only 28 (this assumes that the computers on the 2 cars are accurate?). Looking at the official figures the 300 is only supposed to be marginally better than the 400 anyway, a great testament to the V8 lump. The 400 is superbly quiet and smooth and no doubt I will return to one in years to come. The 300 styling is more 'me' really. Before I bought the 400 a friend said that it would age me. I guess he was right. That may sound 'shallow' to some?

I'll check it tonight thanks. If it needs flushing/replacing any idea how much and did you say only use Toyota oil?

Would 'knackered' transmission oil cause the gear box to sound noisy too? I ask this because I mentioned in a previous thread that, having just got the car, its alot noiser eccelerating than I thought it would be. When I rev the engine in 'P' it sounds quite smooth so I 'm wondering whether the noise is coming from the gearbox?

Am I right in thinking that its not necessary to disconnect the batttery on a GS300 to reset the ECU's ? I'm sure there a 'tutorial' in the knowlege base that says just remove the 2 large fuses for 30 seconds and then replace em?

cheers. How will I know if the radio is coded? As I recall its something you can do from the touch screen menu but how would I know if the previous owner(s) set one up?

Being new to auto boxes can someone enlighten me as to why a torque converter would need to be changed on a GS300 with about 90k on clock? The reason I ask is that just having acquired a 300 i find it struggles to accelerate from a standing start. The engine seems to rev happily but I don't feel that the power is being transferred to the drive as it should. (I got burned-off by a pug 206 this morning ) If the Torque Converter was 'worn' (sorry if that the wrong term) would it be like a worn clutch on a manual box? In my search for 300's last week one I looked at was a 2001 model and the garage proudly anounced that it had just had its Torque coverter replaced under the Lexus warranty. The car has 83000 on the clock? If not the Torque converter would there be any other reason for the car being reluctant to accelerate?

Believe so, there's also the Aristo Vertex V300 which is the 3 litre twin turbo version :) ← I think there's on of those on Autotrader just now......but I'm 48 , no boy-racer

Did look at a 430 locally yesterday, immacculate but 18k, outside my budget maybe in 2 years time :winky:

The Aristo's a GS300 import? right?

Very mixed feelings about it , I can tell you!

Sure thing , as soon I can.

I done it! changed the LS400 for the GS300. Intitial thoughts....... GS not as quiet as I had expected (first time I have driven one). I know the LS400 is super-smooth but I still thought a 6 pot 3 litre car would be quieter. Petrol consumptionm, according to the trip computer (which could be wrong?) is worse on the GS than the LS!!!! Drove the LS from Nottingham to Sevenoaks on cruise at 70mph and got 31.5 mpg. drove the GS back from sevenoaks to Notttingham on cruise at 70 and got 29mpg? (maybe its uphill on the way back ;) the GS handled well I thought, despite a recent thread to the contrary. Certainly alot more direct than the LS. Only my first day with GS but will provide more feedback as the weeks/months pass.

Big thanks everyone. Gonna take a look Sunday. Anyone got any advice on what I could drive them down to on price? Assuming I'm a cash buyer? ← there is an excellent guide of things to check before buying a Mark II GS in the club knowledgebase - any of those faults could be used as a "haggling" point. Be aware - that at 89k - you are coming up on a big service, belts etc - which could also be used as a bargaining factor. ← I rang Lexus Nottingham today to get a price for a 90k service and they quoted 225 all in? that sounds like an 'A' service? ie oil and filter change. Did you mean 100k service?

Big thanks everyone. Gonna take a look Sunday. Anyone got any advice on what I could drive them down to on price? Assuming I'm a cash buyer? ← there is an excellent guide of things to check before buying a Mark II GS in the club knowledgebase - any of those faults could be used as a "haggling" point. Be aware - that at 89k - you are coming up on a big service, belts etc - which could also be used as a bargaining factor. ← *** this forum's good! ← sorry Mod :shutit:

Big thanks everyone. Gonna take a look Sunday. Anyone got any advice on what I could drive them down to on price? Assuming I'm a cash buyer? ← there is an excellent guide of things to check before buying a Mark II GS in the club knowledgebase - any of those faults could be used as a "haggling" point. Be aware - that at 89k - you are coming up on a big service, belts etc - which could also be used as a bargaining factor. ← *** this forum's good!

Big thanks everyone. Gonna take a look Sunday. Anyone got any advice on what I could drive them down to on price? Assuming I'm a cash buyer?

no more pics though from looking at their stock - would imagine it was a "real" Lexus - not an import ← if you click in "image available" next to the description it brings up 4 images. the one attached initially was the best of the wheels. ta-again

here's the link......thanks for looking http://www.adgsevenoaks.co.uk/895/adg.htm scroll down stocklist until u get to 1998 GS300 (grandma, eggs, sucking .....sorry!)

Can any one tell me if this car looks like an import? Someone said that the alloys were not on UK spec'd cars? Any other tell-tale signs that a GS is an import? thanks ps not sure whether the image uploaded? if not, what did i do wrong?

Hi all, have a LS400 which is great but thinking of changing to a GS300. Can anybody advise on differences in driving experience? Is the GS as smooth and quiet as the LS? Ride? Performance, ownership costs etc? thanks in advance.

can anyone advise on how to reset the ECU's on my 99 LS400? I have seen the threads on how its done on the GS300's but can't find similar for my car? thanks in advance.

I've had my LS400 about 4 weeks now and in that time the touch screen has gone blank and therefore non-functional about 3 times. As I turn the ignition on the green 'Lexus' screen appears and then when I turn the engine over it goes blank. This is normal at this stage as once the engine has fired the screen reappears. But, as I mentioned, on three occasions the screen has remained blank. This happened this morning so I immedaitely turned off the engine and turned it back on again. This time the engine wouldn't fire! I'm wondering whether I 'flooded' te engine? ie because I started and stop the engine so quicky there was a dump of fuel somewhere? I eventually got it started after 3/4 attempts and there was a lot of fumes from the exhaust. Its ran fine since. So, two questions.... 1) whats causing the touch screen to fail to come on intermittently, and.... 2) what caused the engine not to restart? thanks Al

OK, thanks again Carlo

Thanks carlo but what about the heating element? doesn't it have to be removed?

My 1999 LS400 has a slightly saggy drivers seat and I was wondering whether there is any way of firming it back up?