purebliss

I saw a pretty nice GS300 proably a 01 or 02. Not an 03 because it had the old size goodyear tires on it. As I always do with any gs I took a peek inside it. I saw the radio controls on the steerling wheel. At first I though maybe they were the lexus car phone controls but as I looked closer they were the same as the ones on my GS430. Now my friend bought my old GS300 and when I told him about this car he wanted to know how to do it. You guys every hear of doing this mod? I mean the car had the stock radio no ML. Any ideas out there on how to do it? Do you think there prewired? Any info would be great! Thanks

INHOCJP

Was it a wooden steering wheel? If so, then it seems the GS300 has the GS430 wheel. I doubt that any of the audio controls are usable, but I could be mistaken. The factory 430 wheel looks real nice.

purebliss

Nope it was leather. But some GS430 don't have the wood steering wheel!

GSXOTIC

iTrader: (6)

Hi, I was looking for this thread to reply. Anyways, I don't know if its compatible or not but Beverly Auto in Japan is selling the OEM audio control as an aftermarket part for about 20,000 yen (166 U.S. Dollar using 120 exchange rate.) Like I said before, I will see if my sister can look up this item for me when she go to Japan next month. But if anyone here knows its not going to work please yell!! Mine is 01 GS3 with Nav.

Sam Khoury

Yeah I want to know about this too. I actually think that Lexus was dumb in excluding this out of the GS300's like it's such an exclusive option that only belongs on the GS430 when so many cars out there have had steering wheel radio controls for years. I also consider it dumb when you spend a couple of grand extra to get the Mark Levinson sound system but you don't get audio controls on the steering wheel.

GSXOTIC

iTrader: (6)

Hey Sam, I agree with you. I wasn't even aware the audio control exist in GS until I saw strshoot's ride. I have ML system on mine as well but no audio control.

Sam Khoury

I had my GS300 for servicing yesterday and I took a look at an 03 GS430 in the Lexus of Manhattan showroom yesterday and the audio control unit attached to the steering wheel and I'm still not quite sure if it's a separate unit or part of the steering wheel. I may have felt one screw towards the back of it but I'm not sure. I hope it's a separate unit or it will be really expensive to replace the entire steering wheel with the unit. Plus I have black walnut trim in my SportDesign GS and the regular wood will clash. If anybody with a GS430 can confirm that it's a separate unit, that would be great. I'm going to call Steve Ganz at Carson Toyota to see if he can get a part number and a price and see if he can find out from the service guys if this can be connected to a GS300. I'll let everybody know what I find out.

BananaGS

since this is not something that is interested me, but I just want to let you know that the wiring is there,
at least inside the gs400 steering wheel, i don't know if the other end hook up to anything.

Sam Khoury

I didn't think that steering wheel radio controls were available on the 1998-2000 GS's (300 or 400). So why would there be wires there?

Sam Khoury

OK, Gordon from Carson Toyota (he works with Steve Ganz) referred me to a guy names Al at a Lexus parts department and I got 3 part numbers from him for the parts he thinks we need. Al says he reads the forums so thanks Al if you're reading this. Here are the prices that Gordon from Carson Toyota gave me.

steering pad switch modulator - part #8424530020 -$152.00
switch and volume case - part #8617424010 - $11.50
cowl wire - part #8213230563 - $2395.00 (yes $2395)

The first two appear to be 2 parts that are on the steering wheel and they hood up to wires that are in the steering column. The last part hooks up to the back of the stereo and the reason it's so expensive is because it's part of the wiring harness so the whole thing much be purchased. I'm not convinced that the last part is necessary. Hopefully it won't be. Gordon is faxing over pictures of the parts for me. I'll try to scan them and post them up at some point.

The only thing that Al seemed concerned about was the wiring in the steering column/wheel that BananaGS mentioned. He wasn't sure if the GS300 steering column/wheel had it because the steering wheel on the 01-03 GS300 has wiring for the e-shift and the GS430 does not. That's something that the GS electronics experts will have to investigate.

BananaGS

I remember opening my steering wheel out and comparing with a SC430 wheel, I am almost certain that the wire for the side button is there, I was gonna take the buttons from the SC430 wheel and installed it to mine, but I got lazy. in anyway, I am not 100 sure, because it was a while back.

purebliss

Thanks sam Igood work. The only thing I am curious is I don't have the ML system so I wonder if it would be different to hook up to a non ML radio. Point being it was made to work with the ML. I wish I were you Sam because at least you have the ML so it will proably make it a lot easier.

GSXOTIC

iTrader: (6)

Thanks for pursuing this Sam. The first two parts sounds about right because that is how much it cost in Japan. I read the part description but they never did mention about the 3rd part. Keep me post, if the cost is the same here, I don't have to ask my sister to get it for me from Japan.

Sam Khoury

After I received the fax from Gordon I learned that the cowl wire is part of another part which I think is the wiring harness because on the fax he had a part 82131 circled which he explained to me is the part that includes the cowl wire. It looks like that part includes all the radio wires running throughout the engine compartment. The fax I got isn't worth scanning and copying because it won't come out really clear. The pictures of the parts are really really small and the page with the steering wheel control parts is very cluttered.

To answer purebliss' question. When I was speaking with Al about part numbers, it sounded like the GS430 steering wheel radio controls exist for both Mark Levinson(ML) and non ML equipped cars. I asked him that question figuring that people without ML would be interested also and I forgot to post it up. He said that if the part was for only cars with ML, his part book would have indicated that but the parts didn't have that notation next to them. This is also backed up by the GS brochure which just says "Steering-wheel-mounted audio controls (GS 430 only)". There's nothing there that says ML equipped cars only. Here's a link to the PDF page of the GS e-brochure. Look under the luxury section. You'll need Adobe Acrobat to read it.

http://www.lexus.com/images/showroom...GS_Page_14.pdf

I was wondering if anybody has a 2001 or 2002 or 2003 GS300/GS430 service/repair manual which explains how to change or install the steering wheel mounted audio controls. I see a 2001 repair manual on eBay but I don't want to spend $120 on it.

purebliss

Thank you Sam. WOw this would be great I mean I also live in NYC so if you find a local dealership to do it let me know!