mumbles

Murph, thanks for the "exact phraseology" to give the Lexus techs! I thinks its unfortunate that Scott had to take his back so many times until they got the "Master Tech" to look at it. This seems to be a fairly common problem, so you would think that the techs would share info with one another??? There I go trying to apply logic again

VVT-i

This is the old problem on the early production GS( 10/97-10/98), but we still see problem from time to time. The tech tighten the big nut on the left side of the steering rack.
He tighten 1/8 of a turn or less, not too much at all. You need a to mark the nut first and a chisel to tighten the nut. If it too tight it will damage the brass bushing inside the rack. I hope this might help. There a TSB for this.

VVT-i

My bad, it been a long time since I did the last one. You have to loosen up the nut first and then tighten the big hex head in the center.

ChuH

Thanks for the info Scott!!!

I also have the vibration problem you described. Always thought it may be a flat spot on the tires or bent rim. I am going to have the Lexus service check on it when I have my oil change next month.

Chu...

SCWells72

Actually there were quite a few variables at play here...first L-Tuned install in Austin, new tires from a non-Lexus location, etc. I'm sure that it was quite a bit of figuring out the details before they called in the big guns (the "Master Tech").

I'm still quite happy with my Lexus dealer. In their shoes, I would've proceeded with caution as well, making sure the tires and suspension were properly installed before trying to find some ramification of either/both on the stock car's expected dynamics.

Toog4me

Damn, I should do that. The steering is way too loose for me, but it makes it easier to drive and turn with one hand.

stephen0917

I have the 2002 GS430 w/ 17" factory chromes. I've had the same problem as well. I have an appt. with Lexus this week. Thanks for the info, should provide very useful.

jtanoyo1

Mine wasn't so much problem of vibration as it was a problem of trammelling (my steering wheel will pull to the left or right sometimes quite violently, depending on the surface of the road, usually when there's grooves or waviness). It has been a problem since the day I bought the car.

I went through countless alignments and they were usually short-term fixes. Within a week or two, the problems would resurface. I even check tire pressure every week or so and find that on a couple of tires, they lose pressure quite a bit within the same month.

Finally, my Dad (who used to be a very seasoned trucker) and I came up with a hypothesis. When my car was in the harbor warehouse waiting to be released to the showroom (our papers showed that it was waiting to be cleared for almost a year!!), the tires probably became completely flat due to neglect for a very long period of time. Due to this, the tires are probably not even in the same condition as they were before and any form of wheel balancing etc could never fix it.

I made the leap of faith and bought a set of Toyo Proxes T1S in 245/45/17 configuration. A lot of folks told me that I would probably need to upgrade the rest of my suspension too just because stock Aristo suspension is just plain crappy. I am not willing to make that kind of commitment just yet.

Anyway, I installed the new tires this morning, had a 4-wheel alignment as well as tires balancing and voila, my car rides like it's a totally different beast! No more trammelling, no more swaying or vibrations on the highway speeds.....

.....keeping my fingers crossed. Gonna wait for a couple of weeks to see if the upgrade helped.

lexguynj

I have the same set up as you and this is what I am going to finally do (I should have done this a while ago).

1. Take advantage of the L-Tuning upgrade by using the 15% off at Manhattan Lexus (shocks, springs, steering ECU). Then I am going to install new Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires and see how this all works out. I don't think my dealership has a clue how to fix this.

Billbosh

Does anybody know the TSB number for the steering pretensioner adjusment??
-Thanks
BillBosh
99 gs4

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i don't think it's a TSB? it's mostly for modded cars

JTJerryls400

.

mcgong

I have a question. I was looking under the car for pretensioner and I noticed the the rubber boot right next to it looked a little wet on the bottom. I am guess that I might have a slow leak in the rack and pinon. The question I have is, if I bring it into the Dealer, with my car lowered, do you think they will turn me away and say that it is because the car is lowered. The car is still under warranty.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

ok i might be flamed, but i don't think they can blame you on that. lowering the car will only affect the suspension of the car, anything leaking in the steering wheel colume shouldn't have anything to do with the lowering at all

stephen0917

let me know how it turns out. btw- what dealer have you been going to that has no clue of the problem?