Gs300 Ball Joints

[amichie]

Hi

I'm new to the GS300 and searching Forums and Google etc it seems there are many warnings about front lower ball joints.

Just curious if we had the same problem in Australa or did Lexus rectify it somehow?

Andrew

[bgaheer]

Yup I was one of the unfortunate ones to have had the lower ball joint issues, the wheel just dislocates itself and God bless you if you are at some decent speed. I was at 5 KMPH and still lost my ABS senser as it ripped off the cable.

I for the first time acted stupidly and bought a Lexus form a private sale (decent business owner he imports candies and has some services garages) I bought the car just on the advt and meeting with absolutely NO test drive (the owner offered me a test drive but due to a traffic jam just out side his office I didnt get a chance to take it out for a spin)

so his advt and his sales bull*BLEEP* - 1998 Lexus GS300, services every 5000 KM, working A/C, every thing working, used by the other half blah blah....btw I got this for my 16 yr old son as he got his L plates and I didnt want him to be asking for my car.

drove home on a cold day - brake padel felt funny but was stoping good, couldnt check the A/C, next day had to leave to Brisbane hence couldnt do anything till the weekend which was 3 days away.

over the weekend checked the A/C, engine Oil and some strange noice from the steering at full lock. the engine oil was black...for a petrol car this only ment that the 5K service didnt happen for past 15 K or so and yet he had his log book filled and signed. replaced the oil and filter.

A/C compressor was broken hence ended up Ordering parts from ebay (complete A/C replacement) and spend around 1400$ including the cost of labour to replace the broken A/C

2 weeks down the line one fine morning just when I was preparing to take my son for a scheduled drive - drove out of the drive way and on to the road and the front right wheel gave up - due to bad ball joint.

Ordered parts from ebay and replaced the entire set of lower and upper joints total cost 750$

Now the funny brake padel may be due to the issue with the electronic brake motor in the booster or so hence I am now looking to replace the same to finish all of the work that the car had on it when I bought it for a whole lot of money.

I would like to state that I am not really happy with the quality of the Lexus of the build as there are many cars which would have crossed the 180K and yet would have lot of life left in it without major maintenance needed, not to say I think this users also contributed to this mess.