Fidel Castrol

From my experience, you may also hear a little "click" (it helps if you're in a quiet place) when the automatic window feature works. Push down switch and hold down. (lowers, stops, then a soft "click") Pull up on switch and hold down. (raises, stops, then a soft "click")

My wife thought I was a good ride before I bought a Lexus. No modifications necessary!

What kind of shape was the car in before Hurricane Katrina damaged it? It sounds like you had major water-intrusion issues with the car (flooding, perhaps?). That probably accounts for the windows/sunroof issues, maybe the wiring harness is corroded or just getting wet. The seat motors and seat tracks are a common issue with 1st-generation GS 300. Which is my way of saying that 90% of the seats don't change position. I've heard that "manually" adjusting the seats cases them to shake a little too much when driving, rather than stay in place when braking/cornering/accelerating. We don't adjust them manually in my shop for that reason; maybe someone knows a better way...my seat track is inoperative as well, even for me, it's a $1200 repair. If the steering column and still tilt and telescope, I'd try to adjust the wheel to fit you as best as possible (hopefully you're not much more than 6' tall). OT: My GS 300 survived Hurricane Wilma, although one window was blasted out and a few dents and scratches make the car look not-so-new. Even though a lot of water got in the car through the left-rear window, the electrics were and are still fine. Allstate and my shop made it right, though.

...and as a Lexus service writer, I give the buyer two options: Take it or Leave it. However, I've had people price between different dealers, and they say they get different prices from dealer to dealer, so I implore the buyer to check first. Also, you may get a disreputable counterman or service writer who get paid on "gross" instead of other methods, so he'll go for the kill.

I use TIS at work (I don't like the new TIS 2.0, though), but as far as I know on TIS 1.6...there is no way to download everything at once. You have to click each "result" separately, and save the PDF document from there.

Very common on every 1st-gen GS I've ever seen in my dealership. The wood trim isn't all that expensive to replace, but the only part I need is the wooden bezel around the shifter, as I've collected the rest. I've found it's about $100-120 at my shop. However, it's hard to justify replacing some cracked wood trim when you have a newborn...so Super Glue has helped out.

You're right, it's just a reflector. No bulb.

Sometimes it's as simple as a blown fuse that handles the center dash components (A/C, radio, clock, temperature).

'94 GS 300: I average about 17 mpg around town, stop-and-go which is 90% of my driving. The A/C is on, and I'm usually making short, less than 5 mile trips. But with pure highway driving, I've achieved about 26-29 mpg. The best is I've averaged is high as 31-32 mpg on a tank: Almost no A/C; cool 65-degree day, back roads in which you couldn't go much above 75 mph, averaging 55 or so.

I've had my 1994 GS 300 almost a year now; it has just over 40,000 original miles at this time. It's in great shape, although Hurricane Wilma put about 2958% more scratches and dents to my car. The more I drive it, the more I like the car. It has zero problems, other than a CD changer that's inop. I'd like to look into a trunk-mounted multiple disk/CD changer that will play MP3s encoded from CD-Rs. If it works well with the harness supplied for minimal install time, that's a bonus. The only mods it has is the driver, the most important upgrade a car needs! Now that I'm done bragging about my non-existant race driving skills, I'll let the next GS owner show their car.

If there's no master keys at all, just a valet key, then you need to get a transmitter chip installed. The keys will come from the factory, as a Lexus dealer can get the key code. you might as well get a pair of keys, since the chip is more expensive than the keys (usually about $400-600 for the keys and chip). The cracking of the wood's kind of intermittent on 1st-gen GS 300's; I see them on models with 30K miles, and then I won't see them on cars with 200k miles. Go figure. My 1st-gen has it on the shifter, but it wasn't anything Super Glue couldn't handle, since it was cracked, but not shattered. I wanted to use the aftermarket wood trim kits, but the raised surface wouldn't allow the ashtray to close properly on another model I saw. Lexus dealers (usually) won't hand out prior service histories, unless you own the car. Personally, I think $7500 is a little steep for a car that's over 10 years, 100,000 miles, and an iffy service history with an airbag light on...but that's me.

I've seen a number of these in recent months, it just seems to be the 2001-05 model, as the radios changed slightly since the 2nd-gen GS were tweaked for the 2001 MY. The display just "freaks out" for a moment and shows gibberish. Usually, there's little or no interruption of the sound from the unit. A few people complain the sound cuts out for a split second, but others say there's no interruption. I suppose I should introduce myself to these forums, as I'm a service advisor at a Lexus dealer for over 3 years now.