BillH2

When I bought my car I purchased three keys from a local locksmith. He indicated that they would be no problem to make and program. Making the keys went fine. Programming them was another matter. After getting them to talk to the car by a sequence of various door lock cycles and ignition switch cycles, the would lock and unlock the doors and trunk. They would not, however allow the car to start. He ran into a brick wall here. I was faced with the prospect of making a 140 mile drive to the nearest Lexus dealership and paying the going rate, which was $65.00 for program the keys. I mentioned my situation to friend who was the service manage at the local Toyota store. I had been previously told that they couldn't do anything with my Lexus except change oil, which was why I was in there. He said that was incorrect, they could perform all work except warranty. They programmed the key for $40.00. They told me that there would be no way anyone with a 2001 or later Lexus could program their own keys unless the feature had been unlocked either at the factory or by a Lexus dealership using the Lexus "Z Best" device.

The heater core is supposed to contain only engine coolant NEVER oil. Usually when a head gasket fails you get coolant in the oil, turning it to sludge. I guess that it would be possible to have a blown head gasket around the pressure side of the oiling system and have it pump oil into the cooling system, but that has to be a rare occurrence. I would get a second opinion

I have a 01 GS-430 with Mark Levinson audio an no NAV. The ML Amp is going out and I am investigating alternatives. So far I have come up with: 1) Replace the ML AMP with a reconditioned unit. Cost: $700.00 2) Replace the head unit with a current tech unit, bypass the ML AMP(S). I have been told this will sound really bad as there will be no amps. Cost $450.003) Replace the whole system with a new head unit, all new speakers and a 5 channel amp. Cost: $2815.00 installed. The stereo shop informs me the that this system would be equal or better in sound to the Mark Levinson system. While I would like to get all the current bells and whistles of a new head unit, I think I am going with option 1.

I would clean the MAF sensor. If it's dirty, it will lean out the engine and make it hesitate.

Sounds like how the problem with my ML system started. First thing I noticed was the adjustments for audio levels would default back to "0" This went on for a while, every so often I would notice the system sounding flat. Check the settings, everything to "0" Next thing I noticed I would start the car, and no audio. As I reached for the volume knob, the audio would come on full blast. This happened approximately six times. Couple of weeks ago, driving down the freeway minding my own gd bindess, I get the most awful loud cracking and popping sounds from the center speaker. I'm wondering if it's in the radio station. This happened a couple of more times only now followed by the sound system completely shutting down. The system will work if the temperature outside is above 50. Colder than that and you drive in silence. Researching the issue, I find that Lexus has a bulletin about failures with the 2001 and 2002 GS Mark Levinson amp. I have to decide whether to fix it or to scrap the whole system and install new speakers, HU amps and wiring. Fixing the existing ML system: New M/L Amp, $1700.00 (Carson Lexus) OR $695.00 for a reconditioned amp (Sewell, Carson doesn't sell recon units). From first noticing a problem to total system failure took place in the space of about a year on my car. YRMV Good Luck

I installed a set of Powermaster plugs. IMO, they delivered nothing in the way of power. As a side bonus, they reduced my mileage 1.5 MPG. Stay with the stock plugs!

Can anyone list the proper procedure for dis-assembling the guage cluster?

The car was a 1967 410 H.P. 427 Fairlane. It had 3.23 gears, 26" tall tires and I saw 6800 RPM in fourth gear. (161.8 MPH, not counting slippage) It was rock solid at that speed and got there in a real hurry. That was back in 1969 when I was young, dumb and immortal. (Don't remember when I became "no longer immortal" maybe it was when a couple of friends died in their cars. Now I am old and dumb but no longer immortal) A few years ago, I got a chance to drive a friends rear engine gas dragster. Car was going 9.20's with their mule motor. They were making license passes that night and offered to let me make a lap or two. They told me most everyone who drives one of these the first time goes 14 seconds because the car scares them so badly. I said if it goes straight, I'll hammer it. I went 9.80/151MPH first pass 9.50 155 second pass. (never got used to the shifter) Crossing the finish line, it occured to me that I had driven that fast before. Took a minute to remember it was in the Fairlane. I have gone 120 in my GS-430 but I don't do that often. Figure I have used up two lifetimes worth of luck.

I have been told that once you've had black, you'll never go back. What's that? Really? We are talking about cars? Oh,..... Well..... Nothing looks better than a clean, properly waxed black car. Also nothing is harder to keep looking good than black. My Cinnabar GS-430 is difficult enough to keep clean, and I wash it a minimum of once per week. If you plan on washing your car twice per month, you better get something "other than black." I do love my black interior, though. There is one local guy who drives a black Corvette that looks good all the time. He set up his garage with drains so he can wash it inside. He told me he washes his car pretty much every time he drives it. Either before taking it out, or just after he parks it for the night.

Open the glove compartment. In the very back, behind the door is panel that pops off. The filter unit is behind that panel. I got mine from Sewell for about $30.00 Good Luck Bill

3.23 gears, 27" tall tire. 6400 RPM = 159.2 MPH The car was a 1967 410 H.P. 427 Fairlane. Car was extremely smooth and stable at speed. This was back when I was young and immortal. Years later, I was making a pass in a friends Gas Dragster. The car was going 9.0's at 160 MPH. The first time I crossed the finish line, I thought "I have driven this fast before" I had to think about it for a minute to remember the Fairlane.

Send me your grill. I'll do it for $60. :D

Interesting. What's the best way to strip it off? Is it the same on a 2001 430? My first car was a 76 Camaro, and I remember stripping off the dull gray coating on the headlight bezels by accident and finding a shiny metal chrome finish underneath. Looked awesome, I wondered why they covered it up with gray. Let me know if this is so on the 01 model grills. Thx. ← The grill is plastic, but the chrome plating under it is very good quality. Also, the paint is designed to stick and not real easy to remove. I removed the paint on the face of the grill teeth, leaving the sides black. Worked great, took a couple of hours. This is how I did it Materials needed: One can of thick jel paint remover. The thicker the better Rubber gloves (You don't want that stuff on your hands) Fine grade steel wool Q-tips. First, remove the grill Five bolts (I think, 10MM) and the hood latch. Then open the paint remover, Load a Q-tip with paint remover and wipe it across the top of the grill teeth. Do 1/4 of the grill at a time. Let it sit for about fifteen minutes. The paint should be bubbled up by now, put on the gloves, take some steel wool and, using water scrub off the paint. Let the grill dry compeltely and repeat the process. Hope this helps. Do it at your own risk. ← Remove the center emblem also. Phillps head screwdriver, This process worked on a 2001 GS-430. I do not know if the earlier cars had chrome under the black paint.

Interesting. What's the best way to strip it off? Is it the same on a 2001 430? My first car was a 76 Camaro, and I remember stripping off the dull gray coating on the headlight bezels by accident and finding a shiny metal chrome finish underneath. Looked awesome, I wondered why they covered it up with gray. Let me know if this is so on the 01 model grills. Thx. ← The grill is plastic, but the chrome plating under it is very good quality. Also, the paint is designed to stick and not real easy to remove. I removed the paint on the face of the grill teeth, leaving the sides black. Worked great, took a couple of hours. This is how I did it Materials needed: One can of thick jel paint remover. The thicker the better Rubber gloves (You don't want that stuff on your hands) Fine grade steel wool Q-tips. First, remove the grill Five bolts (I think, 10MM) and the hood latch. Then open the paint remover, Load a Q-tip with paint remover and wipe it across the top of the grill teeth. Do 1/4 of the grill at a time. Let it sit for about fifteen minutes. The paint should be bubbled up by now, put on the gloves, take some steel wool and, using water scrub off the paint. Let the grill dry compeltely and repeat the process. Hope this helps. Do it at your own risk.

Interesting. I am in Washington State, my 2001 is Cinnabar / Black from Canada. I wonder how many USA cars were sold with that color combination.

Is the Z4 supposed to be fast? Just wondering. A couple of weeks ago on a Sunday evening I happened to be entering the freeway behind a brand new Z4. The guy was obviously enjoying his new bimmer, he had been !Removed! around quite a bit all the way down the street. We pulled onto the freeway on ramp, he stood on it so I, even though I know better, did the same in my 430. I charged right up on his bumper, backed off, stood on it again and once more pulled right up on him. My GS430 being clearly faster. When we got onto the freeway, I pulled up next to him. He looked over my car with a clearly shocked look on his face, shook his head no, never exceeded the speed limit.

I looked at both, settled on the GS430. I always lean toward horsepower. The thing I like best about my 430 (besides the fact that I have the only one around here) is the fact that there are very few cars on the road that are faster. We have a local BMW dealership and those cars are common. Had a guy who just bought a Z4 (had the paper temp plate) and wanted to play. Pretty much ignored him until we entered the freeway. He was in front of me and leaned on it pretty hard. I pulled up right on his bumper, backed off a couple of lengths and nailed it again, once more pulling right up on his bumper. (wanted to let him know that if I had the ground clearance, I could have run over him). Sure, you wouldn't want to tangle with an M5, and there are a few MB's to avoid, but for the most part, with a GS 400, you will be in a pretty exclusive club.

I too have had my share of run-ins with new car dealerships. I had a car that was purchased with a warranty and needed to have the ignition module replaced. I could have changed it myself or had it done for the same price. (Pay the 50.00 deductible, or buy the module at a cost of 50.00) I had the dealership change it. When it came time to pick up the car, the labor bill was $100.00. They said they had to set the timing, and since that was a "tune up procedure" it was not covered by the warranty. Pointing out to them that since the distributor had to be removed to change the module in the first place resetting the timing was required had no effect, they wouldn't let me have the car until I paid. SO, I used a VISA card. Told the service punk that the charge would be disputed. The next week I called the dealership's general manager and related my displeasure to him. He took care of it. All I had to pay was the original $50.00. If wasn't for the fact that I had twenty years in the automotive industry, I would have been screwed.

Nobody has been any more critical of the Japanese than I am. I was involved in the auto industry for 30 years and looked with dismay at the inroads that they made in the American market. I always swore that no matter what, I would never own a Japanese built car. A number of factors were instrumental in changing my mind. With American auto manufacturers owning Japanese companies and more Japanese cars being built in the US, you really can’t say what is made here and what is made “there.” My last car was a Ford Taurus SHO. Fun car to drive, rock solid engine but the rest of the car was a real P.O.S. In the seven years I owned the car, not counting routine maintenance, I spent over 8K fixing things that shouldn’t have broken in the first place. I have invested ¾ of the price of my GS430 in an old SHO. I looked at and drove BMW’s, Mercedes Benz and Audi’s. Did research on service and reliability, looked at Acura, Nissan, Toyota and Infinity, drove all of them. Researched the Lexus, drove an ES300 and an SC400. First and foremost, the car has to feel right behind the wheel. The SC400 came close, the GS430 was exactly it. The fact that the Lexus has an absolutely stellar reliability record and extremely low depreciation sold me. It’s not the fastest or best handling car I have ever owned, but it is the only car that combines both on one platform. I am constantly surprised by their attention to detail. The bottom line is, it’s my money and I am going to damn well attempt to get the best value for it that I can. Lexus seems to fill the bill in that respect.

That's crazy talk! Everything I have read states putting the extra octane into a car that requires the low-stuff does nothing; however, putting low-stuff into a car that require high-stuff can diminish the performance... I have read that in a few auto mags...and whether its accurate info or not, if you can afford a 50k car, why wouldn't you just spend the extra $3/tank and put what the manu recommends? not picking on you as much as trying to understand the logic... ← I used the middle grade octane. (I think it was 89) for a couple of tanks. More out of habit (My SHO ran fine on this stuff). I didn't notice a difference until I filled up and used the correct premium fuel, car definitely had more power. Back in the old muscle car days, if you ran incorrect fuel (Chevron offered Custom Supreme, 106 octane) your engine let you know about it in short order, to the point of burning holes in the pistons. That was the days when you set your timing with a timing light. I remember sitting in the staging lanes at the Fallnationals at SIR before the class final in Super Stock Eliminator and wanting to !Removed! the timing a couple of degrees because the air had changed. Didn't have time to go get the light, so we looked around and found a 3 degree rock. Tapped the distributor with the 3 degree rock. Later checked it and it was exactly where we wanted it. Won class that day, but I digress. Your engine may not tell you that it is unhappy with your selection of fuel grade. The computer won't let it knock, but that doesn't mean it's running efficiently. Bite the bullet, use the correct grade fuel. You wouldn't drink animal beer (Schmitt) because it was a cheaper than <insert favorite brew here> would you?

Is it OK to use fine steel wool on outside mirrors? I have some waterspots. Have tried straight vinegar to no avail. Thanks Bill

That's what made this experience so unique. Having been around dealerships for so many years, I have a LOT of horror stories. The Lee Johnson guys are definately good people.

I have been around new car dealerships for over 30 years and I have no illusions about how they operate. Anyone who thinks that they are in business for any reason but to make as much profit as possible is kidding themselves. I had been researching the GS-430 Lexus since September of 2004. I did the usual, decide on what I had to have, would like to have and could do without. I really wanted a Cinnabar color with a black interior, but I have never seen one advertised. Could do without NAV but wanted one with a Mark Levinson sound system. In the middle of March, I put together a list of cars I wanted to look at in Seattle and made the trip from Central Washington. One car listed was at Lee Johnson Chevrolet in Kirkland. Of all things, they had the exact car. Cinnabar, Black leather, no nav, ML stereo. In looking the car over, I noticed that it had different brand tires, but I wasn’t too concerned. We made the deal and I drove it home where I discovered that the tires not only were different brand, but they were different sizes. (215’s front, 235’s rear) That wouldn’t have been a deal breaker had I noticed it earlier, it just meant that I couldn’t rotate them. It was my own fault for not looking closer. About ten days after getting the car home, I got a form letter from the dealership wanting to know if I was 100% happy with the car. Since they asked, I called them and related the tire issue. The woman I talked to noted my concerns and said someone would get back to me. In due course, I got a call from Tommy Thoensen, we talked and he asked what would make me happy. Since a date with Hailey Berry was out of the question, (I may be old, but I’m not dead) I said that replacing the front tires on my Lexus with a couple to match the rears would be fine. To my surprise, he said “Have a couple installed and send us the bill, we’ll send you a check” I ordered a couple of Potenza RE-030’s, had them put on the car and mailed the bill, pretty close to $500.00. Got the check today. I was astounded. The people at Lee Johnson Chevrolet in Kirkland did not have to do this. From my experiences being around dealerships I can say with all honesty that what they did was a rare occurrence. Thinking back about the overall transaction, they couldn’t have been better in every respect. I would have no problem buying car from them in the future. Bill

I couldn't agree with you more.

I have had mine for about 2 months and its great except for the noise coming from the front brake pads when changing directions. IF they fix this, yes for sure another GS430 would be great. BillH2, please PM me, as I am curious if your 2001 has the same problem with brakes as mine. I guess its normal according to Lexus, but would like input from some one with same year and model. Curious about the 4 corner alignment too, as mine is also noisy, from tires I am sure. ← Oly I am getting an error when attempting to PM you. As far as brakes go, my car doesn't make a sound. The guy who did the 4 corner alignment said it was off but I don't know if the noise reduction was in the alignment or the fact that I had two tires replaced. (Bought the car in Kirkland middle of March) Later Bill