nc211

Go to autotrader.com, search for any/all cars/all years, and put in your miles and what you paid for it. I think you'll be happy with what you got and what you paid for. Honeslty, can you think of anything you could bought for that price that will give you the comfort, safety, reliablity, and peformance of your LS? You got a good enough deal to not allow it to bother you from enjoying the car for several years and a few hundred thousand miles to come!

To address the original poster's question about the $300 every 5k miles: Unless your car is the exception, and requires additional services, you should not have to do anything to it outside of any other car on the road, ie, change the oil and maybe add some windshield wiper fluid in the tank. I would however do the transmission drain and fill proceedure every 10k miles or so, just to be safe. I recommend it, because quite frankly, it's the easiest thing to do on the car. It's easier than changing the oil, as you don't have to mess with any bolts associated with the plastic undercover. You just simply take a 14mm wrench, look under the car right around where your gearshifter is located, you'll see a rectangular pan with a bolt towards the rear of it "rear being the side facing the rear of the car", undo it, let it drain out into your container "take all of maybe 30 seconds", put the bolt back on "don't over tighten", and pour in two bottles of Toyota Type IV fluid into the transmission fluild dipstick hole in the engine bay. It's just that simple. Once you get aroud 60k mark, then go buy yourself a turkey baster and a can of approved power steering fluild "actualy transmission fluid", open up the power steering fluild reserve tank, use the turkey baster to pull out the old fluid "careful to mark the low spot on the clear reserve tank were the top hose connects too, you don't go below it", then put some clean fluid in. Start the car, turn a wheel a few time for it to circulate, then do it again. Do that a few times, and you've essentially flushed the fluid. Oh, and you might want to change the wiper blades. The big ticket service isn't until around the 90k mark, which encompasses the timing belt and water pump. That one hurts, no which way about it. Which, is also why you see a lot of Lexus for sale around that 89,990 miles mark. The owner knows it's time, and doesn't want to spend the money, so they sell it instead. Those, are great used buys, because it shows that the owner actually paid attention to the maintenance schedule. I've got two Toyota V8's now: An 01 GS430, and an 05 4runner 4.7 V8. One is around 60k "lexus", the other is at 72k. Neither one has required anything beyond a set of plugs, a new cabin air filter, and normal fluids. Both run great "although the GS needs new plugs thanks to the dealership using a pressure washer on the engine bay". And when I sold my former 95 LS with 130k miles, that engine required nothing beyond the 90k service, except fresh fluilds. It was a tank! So, if you're paying $300 for what are nothing more than oil changes and tire pressure checks, then you're getting ripped off "even if they do have free cookies and fountain drinks in the lobby".

My 05' 4runner has the exact same engine as the GX (4.7 liter V8 vvti). I have only put premium in it once, and have never had a single problem. During our migration from NC to Chicago last February (845 miles) though West Virginia mountains and the flat lands of Ohio and Indiana. I kept all receipts of all fuel bills, and set the trip odemeter at 0' as we were pulling out of the driveway. We were loaded down too with stuff, 3 cats, and a fish in the cup holder. Average mileage for the trip on regular gas? 22.3mpgs. That is on the old fashioned way of calculation too, not the car's computer read out. I have never had a "ping" problem, rough idle, or squat. So I am hesitant to spend the extra $$ on premium.

The only time I've ever seen the rims of a car actually rust is due to saltwater, like someone went to the beach and drove through the surf. If that is the case, then I'd also take a good look at the fenders, specifically behind the plastic fender covers underneath. I could be wrong, but that's always been my experience. Road salt is nasty as hell, but saltwater is even worse, and for your rims to rust, says to me that something pretty corrosive got to them. OR, the previous owner could of used Bleach White tire cleaner stuff and just didn't rinse the wheels and rims down enough afterwards.

I continue to post in this thread under the personal assumption that some of us are young guys/gals who are in the "coming up" stage of life. To summarize this entire thread: It was born when gas was heading north of $3 a gallon. Some said it was supply and demand driven, some said it was scam. I just spent an hour watching a show that I hold in HIGH regard...Frontline, on PBS. I TIVO'd it a few days ago. Frontline is simply perfect, period. Fair, straightforward, and balanced. If you give two *BLEEP*s about the real mechanicals behind the system, then I suggest you grab a beer and watch this. It ain't no Micheal Moore crap. It's real reporting, and will show the basis behind my original theory when gas was out of control that "we're being scammed by a Texas Oily President". I promise you, you won't feel like you've wasted your time watching this. You'll be stunned, and smarter across the board of how things REALLY work in the world, period. Espeicially starting on 9/12/2001, but reaching back to 1986 and the Iran Contra mess of Ronald Reagan. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/blackmoney/ PS: The Clinton Era director of the FBI, is now the Johny Cochran of OPEC....if that doesn't intrigue you, then please pay your future $8 gallon price, sit down, shut up, and thank us.

Do you notice a slight bucking around 40-45mph on gentle throttle, and easing off of it gently? If so, you don't have drag, you've got the old engine computer that drops the fuel supply too quickly when to take your foot off the gas. A very common issue with the 95's.

I'm pretty sure it's the brakes now. I'm noticing when I start the car, an automated pumping noise coming from directly infront of the steering wheel, which is the brake master cylinder area. It's running several cycles, not just one as when the car is initially started. So it's trying to set itself, but can't quite get there. I also just rolled slowly through an empty parking lot with the windows down, and could hear a rythmic rubbing/swooshing noise that increased/decreased with speed from that tire. Guess it's time to order some parts and swap out those Midas parts for oem. Just got to find the time, which is at a premium these days. No worries about Midas, I haven't allowed anyone to touch any of my cars since Wal Mart stripped the oil pan plug on my old LS400, back in 2005. Unless it's warranty work, or simply too much for me to handle "like timing belts and such", I'm my own mechanic. Which is the main reason why I love Toyotas, they're so easy to reach stuff and work on. And there isn't a lot of changes between the model lines for the basic stuff. I downloaded the TIS manual last night for the car "my third manual from them", read some of the stuff, and much of it is identical to my 95 LS400.

I was under it this weekend, and other than the obvious road salt damage to the control arms "rusting", the bushings all look good with no cracks. I am thinking maybe wheel bearing too, as road salt can really eat them up as well. But, I am noticing some pretty extensive brake dust, which makes me think after-market brake job was done by previous owner. At 57k miles, in this city driving environment, I would think the brake pads would be toast by now, but they're showing about 40% remaining. So I'm thinking they're possibly aftermarket. My 4runner, which we bought in NC two years ago at 56k miles, was from Illinois as well. There were aftermarket pads on the front of it too, and when I went to change them, I noticed the caliper pistons were starting to corrode. I'm wondering if that might be case here too, which is causing one of the pistons to stick, until the combination of applying the brakes and turning the wheel forces it to unstick. I did notice when test drove it, that the braking was not even and the car wiggled around abit. That has gotten better with some forceful stops. I'm thinking a $c-note at the dealer for a once-over might be in order, before I start spending time chasing things around. I'm not going to go nearly the distance to fix things on this car as I did on my old LS. I just don't have the time, nor the desire. If this car becomes too much of a problem, I'll just replace it with something else. I think it is either the ball joint, bearing, or brake related. I don't get any noises going over bumps and such, which makes me question the ball joint idea. I don't hear any other noises in the wheels when rolling, which makes me question the bearing. But I do hear it when I use the brakes, I do notice a slight groaning noise under normal use sometimes from the brakes which makes me think the pads don't have the shims, and I definetly hear the clicking upon first application of the brakes in any new direction "front and reverse".........I'm thinking yet another quality Midas Job was done at some point.

I'm getting a loud POP from the front driver's side wheel. It happens when I am turning right and applying the brakes at the same time, like pulling into a parking spot. Ball joint? Tie rod end? I can't remember what makes that poping noise... It's not a "clunk", like metal hitting metal. It's like something is binding and releasing, creating that pop noise, as I turn and stop.

I hear ya' there! Unfortunately though, it's pretty much a needed item in the GS430 to prevent spinout on slick roads. Don't get me wrong, I'm not even close to complaining about 300hp/325lb's torque. But in that car, when it rains, it's easy for me to get that little trac light to kick on, which snaps that rear end right back into place. Kind of cool actually, but clearly has it's price when trying to figure out how to navigate around it in the engine bay.

As I was starring at the engine of my new to me 01 GS430 last weekend, I couldn't help but notice all the wires and hoses now associated with the throttle body. It appears that with the introduction of the whole vvti thing, more crap connects to connectors, and connectors connecting to connector connectors. I just stood there, scratching my head, and muttering "crap, now this looks a bit different to me". In some aspects, I miss the simplier setup of my 95' LS. So, as reference, I walked over to the 4runner "grabbing another beer along the way", popped the hood to take a look at that engine "05' 4.7 V8" to compare. It was at this point where I drained that beer, closed the hood, grabbed another beer during my 10 foot trip back to the GS, closed that hood too, and simply sat in my garage with the remaining 12 pack and watched basketball on the shop tv. All I could ask myself was "did toYOTA build this thing, or Jedi Master toYODA?" Has anyone tackled this proceedure on the 4.3 V8 yet? I can't even imagine what the 4.6 engine in the new LS's look like. It's probably easier to solve a rubix cube.

I would try something a little less costly and intense first to see if you can clean it out. I would put a cup of Seafoam in the crankcase, let the car idle for about 20-30 minutes, let the car then sit for an hour or so, so it can cool down and let all the oil drain into the pan, and then change the oil with a good synthetic oil of your choice "I'm a Mobile 1 fan myself". I just bought a 01 GS430 that has a sporatic idle too. This past weekend I did this, also replaced the pvc valve, and did a drain n' fill on the transmission fluid. The car has regular gas in it, which isn't helping. But, it appears to have smoothed out the idle a good bit. My idle situation only happened when the car was in gear. The second I put it into neutral, it stopped. So I don't know if my was transmission fluid related, or what. But I would try the seafoam trick first to see if it can "clean" up the oil system's internals.

You need to go to Chapel Hill, NC for this. Everyone has Kerry/Edwards bumper stickers on their Lexus cars. The idiots put them on the paint, and can't get them off now, even though that election was 5 years ago, they lost, and John Edwards is nothing more then a lying, cheat on his wife, lawyer. The Volvos have "save the earth, impeach Bush" The MB have "Bush/Cheney" The VW's have "420 your Bush" And the Subarus have "hippy love" crap everywhere.

Ooops, posted this in the wrong thread earlier: Click here, start with page 5 and follow the pictures. I did this with my old LS, and it made a world of difference in the steering. I'm going to do it again soon to my GS430. http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...++screen++clean

Click here, start with page 5 and follow the pictures. I did this with my old LS, and it made a world of difference in the steering. I'm going to do it again soon to my GS430. http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...++screen++clean

Ok, here we go. NC211 back to the Lexus OCD funny farm. Got a couple of odd little tweaks that I need to fix. First: The driver's side window makes an awful groaning noise when going down "insert Britney Spears joke here". It sounds like the motor is struggling to lower the window. It doesn't sound as bad going up. Second: I noticed the car struggling a bit when coming to a stop at a light. The idle sometimes is rough and dips around. It stops if I kick the car into neutral, taking the load of the transmisson off the engine. I do know the fluid level is way too high, and I'm thinking because it is too high, it is causing additional pressure on the transmission system. Anyone agree with this thinking? Third: Anyone experience any ticks or pings from the engine with regular 87 octane gas? The dealership filled it up when I bought it, and I'm willing to bet they put in the cheapest gas possible, instead of the recommended premium. It sounds familiar from my old LS. That's it. That's all I've got to complain about "not really complaining, just curious". Thanks Amigos!

Well, when you're at the bottom, there is only way to go! I think all cars are improving these days, even possibly Land Rover. I'm glad to see Jag and Buick making such strong strides towards improvement. But I have to admit, honestly, I'm a bit curious of the criteria used in this report. I mean, you've got to admit, it is a pretty fascinating statement to say that Jaguar is more reliable than a Honda or Toyota. Is this report based on "initial" quality? Not knocking Jag, as they're really sexy machines. But I don't think I've ever met a person who owned one for a few years that didn't say "they're great, but very expensive to keep up".

I think it's a 2 - 2.5 quart range acrossed the board for these cars. But I'm going to call the local Lexus dealership to double check. The problem for me with measuring what comes out, is the car is overfilled already, so I would certainly get that excess amount into my measuring containers. What I want to do is pull the plug, let it drain until it stops, and refill with the correct amount from there, to put me back at proper levels. My wife and son are heading back to NC for a week next weekend, so that'll be my time to do these things, as it gets pretty tough to get anything done when the ruler of the house isn't but 10 months old. He has the attention span of a flea at the moment.

My brother is on that site. He has a 94' Jag with 45k miles. His is the last year where a 8 foot piece of copper tubing consisted of 10 seperate pieces with 20 connectors. So, he's on there quite a bit. He's currently trying to figure out how to yank the CEL fuse, because of some purge pressure regulator thingy that, I kid you not, has a funky name like a "flux capacitor". I told him to get the flux capacitor fixed, travel back to 1994, and buy a LS400 instead. Hahaha.... But he LOVES that Jag! He's definetely a "jag-head". As opposed to RX, who's a "jug-head". Hahaaa... Sorry RX, I just couldn't resist! :D

Certainly can't fault you there. It's pretty tough to replace something that still puts a smile on your face, and keeps you out of the withdrawl line at the bank these days. That was the whole purpose behind my decision to replace the Mazda with a used Toyota product, to reduce the fincial overhead for a second car that doesn't get driven that much anyway anymore. At the end of the day, I just couldn't justify a "new" car payment level for something that I didn't think I would keep for another year anyway. Depending on many miles get put the 4runner over the next couple of months, I'll probably recast that note too to today's rates as well. I'm not close enough in the loan terms to pay them off, and not comfortable blowing that amount of dough to do so, especially for something that falls in value as the sun sets each day anyway. So until that time comes, it's all about the balance of cash flow against value drops. In your situation, have a perfectly maintained Lexus already, paid off. I'd have a tough time signing up for debt flows too. But if you were a single guy on the hunt for some booty, I'd recommend it in a heart beat, as the LS makes a man's johnson bigger. How do you think I got my wife to marry me three years ago? If anyone is interested, here is the listing for the Mazda. Pretty good deal on asking price, if you ask me. Hope they get it, as it'll be a good profit split for them from trade value, about $2,900. I'm all about folks earning a living. http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?ct=u...mp;rdpage=thumb

It's not the "blue" book value that the dealers are looking at though, it's the "black" book, which gives the actual auction prices of that type of car. At least, that's where they start when quoting your trade in value. They offered me only $12k for my 07 Mazda 3gt last weekend, with 30k miles and every option available. I laughted, and told them if we're going to go off of black book, then I need to borrow his and look up the numbers on the 01 GS430 I was looking at. They came up a few thousand dollars on my trade. If they go "black" book for your trade, then insist they go "black" book on the car you're wanting. Apples to apples. You've also got to take into consideration your location. MI isn't exactly in an economic boom these days, and selling a $25k car might be a tall order from some dealers to do.

If you're asking if it's a "sports" car feel, I'd have to say, not so much. But it's not as soft as the LS though either, with not nearly the body roll. Where I live, it's all flat and stop-light corners, so I can't really comment on how it would handle on "fun" roads. It feels floaty going down the road, but if I make a turn at speed, it seems to hold it's level pretty well. But, it's also 8 years old, so I'm not sure how the struts are in comparison to a newer car. Even though it only has 57k gentle miles, they're still 8 years old.

Thanks Steve, I'm loving it more and more. Driving it is one of just a handful of highlights in my day right now. I've put a whopping 28 miles on it so far! Hahaa. But, I've used a 1/4 tank of gas....oh i love that v8 power. We've been tempting you to buy that LS for years now! You're not going to find a better time though, then right now. The only other element that could play into your favor for negotiation purposes, is if gas were back up to $4 a gallon. Used cars are the rage these days, espeicailly ones that can sell for under the $15k window. So, if you're offering them a car on trade that they can sell for around that window, and you want one that is above that window, they'll bend over backwards to do the deal. At least that's what I've heard around here from 4 dealerships. I looked at Infiniti again, and was told they can't sell used I35's fast enough, with some older G35's, but no M or Q series at all, nor the SUV's of any year. I also heard the 03-05 ES series are hard to keep on the lots too, even though there appear to be quite a few more of them around. Searching within a 25 mile radius of Chicago for a 00-05' GS series, only produced about 15 offerings. But, type in LS (01-06), and it was nearly 50 of them. Some of which actually had green grass and full trees in the background of the photos, which tells you how long it's been on the lot. So, I'd say, go buy it! You've waited long enough, and you've earned it!

I know the LS, and GS300 are two quarts out, two quarts in. Anyone know if it's the same for the 430 setup? The only problem with mine, is the dealer "non lexus" apparently overfilled it by quite a bit. The fluid is WAY above the "hot" marker, when it's cold. So, you know it's even further up the stick when it's hot. Figured I'd just pull the cork and let it all drain back to where a normal drain n' fill would be. Just not sure how much to put back in? I'm buying a case from the toyota dealer, and plan on doing a few of these gentle rotations over the next few thousand miles, since I can't confirm the fluid they added was genuine type iv. I assume it is, since they used a genuine air filter, lexus battery, and oil filter. But, better to be safe than sorry.

man its been so long since i did my brakes.... sorry had to go back and check my old brake post...you can see in the pics i dont have ne i dont have ne in my oem brakes BUT i got a brake job like 200 miles after getting the car so possibly thye didnt put them back on...when i put my rotora rotors on i never used ne and havent had ne problems...my old civic's had them...used to have to use a punch screwdriver to keep them from stripping, those screws sucked! http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...c=48686&hl= Thanks, sakataj, good looking GS you got there man! I see the screw holes on the rotors. They are a pain to deal with, no doubt about it!