2001 GS430
After a short while of driving, the middle piece under the lid for the cup holder raises up slightly which causes the lid not to open all the way. I've had the service folks look at it twice. The first time they said the lid was slightly bent and replaced it. The second time, the service manager said that he checked one of the other GS's on the lot and it has the same problem, so they said there was nothing they could do.

Anybody else have this problem? If so, how did you fix it? Did you get the same claim from the service department?

I was considering sanding down the corner of the insert but figured the darn thing would just jiggle up farther and it may not fix it.

Other than this, I am more than excited about my car and love to drive to work every day. I would just figure that for this price tag everything would work perfectly.

Regards and TIA,
Matt

 

Doesn't sound like a crisis

Seriously though, I don't know if it's different on the 430, but the plastic piece in the cup holder on my GS400 doesn't move. Perhaps you could glue yours in place so it doens't move? Or a tiny strip of velcro under if you don't want to glue.

 

What plastic piece are you guys talking about? The one separating the area into two cupholders in the front? or are you guys talking about the rear cupholders?

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I think my only route would be the glue, though, because the velcro idea would cause the plastic insert to raise up too high, and the lid would not close. The amount of movement in this situation is less than 1/8 inch (est. I haven't actually measured, but it is a very slight movement ). The glue would probably be my last resort, as it is nice to be able to pull out the insert to thouroughly clean the well, and to have that area if one chooses not to use it as a cup holder.

I may cruise around to some nearby dealerships and investigate for myself, also.

Yes, nano, in my 430 you can pull that separator in the front cup area straight up and remove it.

Regards,
Matt

 

The 2cup separator can be removed in 98 GS as well. Instead of glue why not use a piece of rubber band (of good quality) and wedge it in.

Salim

 

Ok, I guess that plastic thing in my GS400 is glued or something, because I tried to remove it and it won't come off, but it seemed like it wasn't super strong glue, because it did wiggle a bit when I tried, oh well...

...its sitting pretty tight on my thing, I suggest glue, but dont' use super glue or crazy glue, it might mess up the black plastic!

 

Matt,

That little seperator can go in backwards if it's forced. If it's in the right way it should sit all the way down and stay there. If it doesn't work after you've played with it take it to the dealer. Your car is new. They should fix this.

 

Yeah. Slap 'em up side the head.

 

Kahuna,

It is you bit . Your profile gave you away.

This aggressive side of you is really "entertaining".
( Kinda like you're the little voice in my head in writing. GET THE *****!!!)

What's going on? Seems like you've got a wild hair up your butt for a while. Stock price drop gettin' to you?

 

Hi guys,
The seperator, if inserted incorrectly will prevent the cover from closing. one side is beveled the other side is not .The beveled side should be closest to the shifter, it should open correctly and smoothly all the way this maybe the cause.

 

As you state, the separator is beveled on one side so it is would be next to impossible to force it in backwards. I guarantee it is in the correct way. After some closer investigation, I have determined that it is the right (unbeveled) side which seems to raise up slightly during normal driving. The left (beveled) side stays down firmly, as it should. Well, both sides SHOULD, imho. I think I'm going to stop in to a different dealership and see if I get any help from them.

I thought I might find some others with the same problem, but haven't seen any posters confirming it. So I think it's more just my car rather than a design defect. I will pursue more vigorously with the service folks.

If I still can't get anywhere with the service guys, I'm thinking I might be able to narrow the groove on the separator with a little Elmer's glue (dried before insertion) and that may make it just narrow enough to stay down.

Thanks all for the suggestions and advice.
Matt

 

I have not had this problem yet, but thanks for the heads up. You are in good hands here in this forum with all the knowledgeable people here. I do understand your feeling, you pay this much for your car, even the small things drive you crazy. You've seen it first hand with me in my other thread.

Loving this car like always! Enjoy it too!

 

Caught me boss... no not related to stock drop, I got ornery for a bit before that happened. Guess it was a mood... I'm so ... much ... better ... now.

Actually I know mainly what it was... I couldn't do my daily yoga as well as usual because I hurt my shoulder. I also did some other 'clearing' meditation this weekend... it's a beautiful thing.

 

I had the same problem. The divider didn't seem to seat properly and the lid wouldn't open fully. I had to **** with the divider for a while to get it to seat and eventually it did. Now the lid closes just fine.

 

I finally got resolution to the problem.

After I had one service guy tell me there was nothing he could do, I did a little more investigating on the bloody thing. It seemed that the left side of the insert stayed down fine, but the right side would creep up. Upon further investigation, I found that there was pressure pushing in from the right side. When I pushed the insert down, I could see the right side of the outer compartment get pushed out. Then, I could watch the pressure push back in and raise that right side up slightly (just enough, obviously), to keep the lid from opening fully. So, I went back to the dealer and showed them EXACTLY what the problem was. IMHO, it seemed like I was on the pay no mind list until I was able to diagnose it all the way down to the actual problem. A little disappointing. Anyway, now that they knew exactly what was going on, they were able to get in there and replace the part that was defective.

Thanks for everyone's comments.

Matt