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We've all been there so dont punish yourself too much, its enough to know you've damaged your pride and joy.

Hi all, it's been a year or so since I was last on here, I had an RX400h and did a carpet transplant on it! I'm now in a position to buy an RX450h, test drove one at a Lexus dealer today - wow, I want one (but not the one I drove for various reasons). I'm going to go for the SE-L Premier so I get the spec I want (ML audio, ACC and sunroof). So it'll be a pre facelift/ pre 2012 in any case. Im really looking for feedback on the ACC - if it's any good, does it work well at night or in bad weather etc. I understand it only operates above 30mph, is this correct? And also the PCS - is this 'always on', does it work etc?! I couldn't find much on the internet about these systems and the dealer wasn't too clued up on it as it's 'old tech' now. The dealer I went to today wasn't my nearest, I went to Lexus Croydon and was very impressed by the staff there, probably the best car dealership experience I've ever had (and I've been in a few 😆). Anyway, hoping someone can fill me in on the ACC/PCS feedback, thanks.

Cheers John, One of my mates actually works for Lexus and sorted the car but I said the same thing to him in regards to the warranty and he said there is a way to do it and not effect the warranty which he is looking into. Just wanted to see what people may have done to there cars. I think he said an induction kit would be possible but a custom exhaust would be complicated with the warranty

I had a very similar problem with my Toyota Surf. In the end it was thought to be due to the water pipes to the rear cabin heater which ran along the passenger side of the tunnel. I haven't noticed the same problem with our RX350 but as we are usually away for the winter we don't use the rear heater very much, mostly on air con to cool it down.

Hello LOC UK! I wanted to introduce myself here. My name is Max, I'm 24 years old and I drive a '02 Lexus IS 200. I'm from Bayreuth, Germany. I'm a member of the German LOC for numerous years and I own my Lex for 2 years and 4 months now. It has always been a dream of mine to own a Lex ever since I played NFSU2 on the Playstation and made that come true. The reason why I'm here is, because I'm already active in numerous Facebook groups about Lexus and the XE1 in specific, and the UK LOC seems to be a good source of information for me, because it is more active. I guess that is a result of the much bigger Lexus community in the UK. I have been reading here already, but now thought it was time to sign up to get access to more Lexus related information. Since I bought my car back in 2014, I changed quite a lot of things. Most of them were of cosmetic nature, such as dark chrome rear lights, dark painted headlights and fog lights, front bumper spats, sports grille, UK sport model spoiler, tinted windows, rear fog light mod, painted engine covers etc. And I plan a lot of stuff for the oncoming years. So I'll just leave a small collage of back in the day and now, and look forward to being part of this huge community! Cheers

Heres the pictures I originally posted - it really is an easy job. This is for the Bank 2 Sensor 1 side (passenger side which is the trickiest) PICTURE 1 - The offending sensor removed - this one is the same as Bank 1 Sensor 1 (same fit and wire length and is a direct replacement from the one out of the box in the previous post PICTURE 2 PICTURE 3 PICTURE 4 PICTURE 5 PICTURE 6 PICTURE 7 PICTURE 8 PICTURE 9 PICTURE 10 PICTURE 11 - I think I dropped a screwdriver at this point !! PICTURE 12 PICTURE 13 Hope this helps.... Bank 1 Sensor 1 (Drivers side) is a lot easier to remove - I have the pictures but no instruction on how to but if you remove the engine cover (long one down drivers side wing, then you should see the sensor and understand how easy it is to replace. The sensor removal tool to use is shown below which is available online / ebay etc ... I am pretty sure, including parts, its a £600 job at a dealer. - Parts if importing from USA will cost around £180 (ish) and the removal tool around £10

It seems to me that these cars are worth what they are worth to you. I've seen yours, and I know it's good, and that you've had it for some time. For me it would be a no brainer spending money on it. I wouldn't feel the same about my previous Vectra or similar cars though. There really is something (almost irritating) about these big Lexus cars that gets under your skin!

Sonus tyre and bumper dressing is pretty good

Ahhhhh - thats therapy for the eyes! - decent examples are getting very rare - enjoy your new ride

I did love that car and after the ct i could see myself in another 400,430 or 460 but thats a decision for another time. Hard pressed to pick my favorite of the two, both excellent for different reasons but both better than all my other previous cars. How i went vw for 5years is is mystery lol

I would take your car elsewhere for MOT's in future. I guess his strong advice equated to a potential Christmas bonus or similar. This whole MOT thing is still very slack. My lads car had a string of advisories from last year and I was horrified when he booked it into Halfords for this years MOT expecting the worse. It passed with no advisories.

If you run an old car you eventually reach the point where repairs cost more than the car's worth. Along the way you've probably decided not to repair or replace some non-essential things, e.g. body damage, because this doesn't affect the car's value much. But to me (someone who runs four old cars) this isn't necessarily the end of their life. If they're still running reasonably well you need to factor in depreciation (lack of) as well as how much you'd have to spend to buy something obviously better. Honest John this week publishes a letter about a 2010, 45,000 mile Mercedes C180 that needs a new timing chain and tensioners - at £3,000. So even an expensive (to me) newer car can need a lot of money spending on it - while still depreciating. Having said all this, I might think differently if my Lexus was an everyday car. And if I didn't have a good local indie mechanic to rely on.

I would only claim if the likely sensible and cheapest method, repair cost was significantly higher than the excess ....... notwithstanding Full NCD etc they WILL hold it against you personally for ever and you WILL be penalised by them at some stage, somehow. They always get it back in the end, they are Users and Thieves without exception I doubt there's a Lexus Main Dealer in the land that has it's own bodyshop, they will farm it out to someone else; maybe just find that other " someone " and use them yourself, saving the Lexus 200% mark-up. Malc1

Well, I can confirm that Dodo Juice is indeed very good. Had a quick scrub today, and it ended up like this: The light isn't very good, but you should be able to just about make out some improvements. In person, apart from the creases and a bit of paint flake, the seat is looking pretty good now. Well, a damn sight better than before I started anyway.

naah ! its not a patch on the white mark 3 LS400 u used to have !!! lol nah seriously it looks pretty mean!

I see. :)

The above is bull**** and I will elaborate on why. Firstly, the coating put on Lexus leathers is a Polyurethane coat. Just because it is "Water based" and not Oil based, it doesn't mean that water is going to take the coating off! Modern leather cleaners are all safe for polyurethane coatings and will NOT remove them. Neither will damp water or mild detergent. A simple test is to try it on your skin. If its safe for skin, its safe for polyurethane coatings. Ive been using different leather cleaners on all of my cars since 2004 and never had an issue. Some cars will dye the cloth, especially poor repair jobs, but you will find that this is not coming from the seat itself but from inside the perforations which aren't fully coated. Think about it logically - a seat is subject to hours of rubbing backside and lats over thousands of miles and a 2 yearly treatment of leather cleaner is going to remove a coating? WHAT!?!

Looking good but just needs those tyres blackening up a bit I reckon, it'll set the whole car off!

As said in the other replies I'd try another dealer. I bought my car from an independent dealer earlier this year, contacted Lexus warranty to see if there was an used car warranty still active - there wasn't. So I went to the local dealer, Lexus Newcastle, with all the service history (it has a full lexus sh) etc - bought the warranty there and then no problem, couldn't have been more helpful to be honest. From what I've read though - I'm not expecting to use it, I only bought it for peace of mind, unlike the one on my previous M5........and much cheaper too!!

"Maybe that's the fundamental problem with any needed repairs, the cost to do so on older cars does often outweigh the actual real value and the cars just never get fixed, and then end up scrapped." I think that the comment above from Malc represents a common view,but it is not the view I and I believe others take. I have a 14 year old MERCEDES which has covered 215,000 miles. It is in good condition mechanically and bodily and according to the market is worth nothing much at all. To replace it on a like for like basis would cost in the region of £35,000. The real value to me therefore is the cost of replacement,which means that I can spend a good deal on necessary repairs to maintain it in its current condition and I would not therefore want to write it off sooner than what is necessary for me. Of course it can be written off by an Insurance Company should I choose to make a claim or more likely should some other road user collide with me, but my fundamental point is that its value depends upon one`s perspective. Regards John

quick quick ....... there's a guy on another forum here with a 2006 car air suspension problem ( not sure which forum, hope he reads this ) that's about to send his car to the scrapper because his have failed and the cost to sort out is far far greater than the value of his otherwise good car. Maybe that's the fundamental problem with any needed repairs, the cost to do so on older cars does often outweigh the actual real value and the cars just never get fixed, and then end up scrapped. Maybe that's why there are so few Ls400s left. Values dropped, cambelt and waterpump needed replacing and " bang " that was more than the value of the car ( to most people ). Likewise a simple tiny insurance accident prang and wow, the car's a gonner It's sad, but economics I'm afraid. Malc 1

Linas, I actually think you understand the diesel/petrol thing more than most on here. Overall, I agree with what you say. However, you kinda prove my point in your first sentence; how do you know there are not many more people out there equally happy with their diesel Lexus's? Now, to answer your question, yes, the IS220d is the worst car Lexus has produced. But, as you point out, worst of one of the best brands is still better than a lot of cars out there. Is the 220d up the usual Lexus standards? No. But, having said that, I do think there is still a place for it here under certain conditions. Also, why there was no auto option is equally strange to me. I think it would have made the overall experience a lot better if it were auto. Yes, I agree that some people might be buying them because they expect a certain level of reliability that the Lexus name implies, but to be honest, like I said before, a lot of the issues are to do with being a diesel in general rather than any specific 220d failings. So, in that respect, it is just simply lack of research that is to blame. As you know, I do the kind of journeys that a diesel car is made for and have had many trouble free miles as a result. As previously mentioned, this is more about perception than actually failings. By the way, I would like to thank you for such a detailed reply. It seems you have put some thought into the matter.

I think Shaun actually is closer to the smoke problem .... So: Disregard what I have said about head gasket (though it is always a possibility with IS220d... something worth bare in mind) It is more likely to be related to 5th injector (quite tricky to diagnose and can be intermittent) I must agree with what Shahpor is saying - IS220d is not terrible car overall, but they are known to have some issues and at this certain age many of them gets neglected and go wrong. My advice would be to avoid them unless you are absolute expert or you buying the car from reputable dealership (just sake of support if something goes wrong) preferably with proven service history. As well my prices were more average garage price rather than DIY... yes many things can be done yourself, buy even I don't get into it. Not because I don't know how, but because not everyone has space, time, sometimes tools to do it.

What can I say.. you can stand up and be proud about yourself.. you are one of very few IS220d drivers who managed to live with the beast. All you said above is true - I must admit I am probably one of the harshest IS220d critics around, but I would genuinely buy one myself for a right price and in right condition. If you know the car well, if you know what to expect and what to look after I am sure it is possible to live with IS220d. But that is exactly the problem... people unaware of these cars and their problems often gets in trouble. Now lets head straight to the problem e.g. the thread you mentioned. They look adorable luxury cars for the price of rusted bucket and people without prior knowledge or any research gets in this trap. IS220d now is reaching certain age and value at which cars starts to be neglected, there are more and more such cars on the market, which looks reasonable year, mileage and quite cheap. People who are not aware of such cars and their particular problems buys the thinking of getting good deal and what they get is the bomb about to explode. Whenever it is dodgy sellers or lack of research, market of IS220d is becoming minefield and this trend will only increase. Now being honest can you tell me any Lexus model overall which is worse than IS220d? That is not your car in particular, which I am sure is looked after very well and in very good shape, but the model as a whole. Starting from LS400... IS200/300.. GS.... up until now all Lexus'es were known for their exceptional reliability... and I mean exceptional... except one - the 2005-2009 IS220d... it is by far the worst car Lexus ever made. I am sorry but that is true. Nobody says that there are no worse or less reliable cars overall, but as a Lexus IS220d is the worst cars of the company. I almost think that Lexus should buy back all IS220d's and discard them, because without prior knowledge of the brand and other models some people are getting very bad image. To kind to soften the tone a bit I can say ... yeah but all Peugeot, half Renault/Citroen are far worse.. and that is true, but they are consistently bad and unreliable.. therefore there are no particular model which is hated. With Lexus is a bit different.. all cars are exceptionally good except one.. and that is why it gets so much criticism.. Not because it is such a bad car overall, but because Lexus could definitely do better than that. On top of that IS220d is a bit odd ball as well, kind of mixture of unfortunate decisions. The gearbox... all the way weird, weird gear ratios.. why no auto option is mystery as well. Obviously, Lexus tried to jump bang wagon with Germans while British government was blindly (and rather negligently) was promoting diesels for no good reason. So they throw wrong engine in otherwise great design, they throw not matching gearbox... and not surprisingly car end up not refined, unreliable and overall short of expectation from typical Lexus buyer. And that is very important as well - short of expectation. When you buy Peugeot.. you kind of expect it to be crap (or more likely I don't know sh** about the cars), but when you buy Lexus you expect exceptional reliability. So again is not that bad car overall, but maybe buyers simply expects much more.

OK guys I'd like to thank you for your replys. much appreciated . I've had a good look around the forum and it looks like many owners are having issues with the same car. In fact I've not seen a single good word said about it. seems obvious to me that if I keep this car I'm going to run into a variety of problems so I've decided to cut my losses and get rid. I do like the lexus is though and unlike bmw and mercedes they are quite rare to see on the roads. That's what made me opt for the lexus in the first place. It's something different . I will look into the is250 as from what I read here on the forum everybody has nothing but praise for it. I will keep you guys informed .

Would just like to add regarding the smoke problem. When I first had the car the exhaust would constantly pump out a blueish colour smoke even when warm and it was confirmed the head gasket had failed and had it replaced . However towards the end of my ownership I too would see plumes of smoke just before the engine was up to temperature . thinking it was the head gasket again I took it back to lexus Wolverhampton who confirmed it was the 5th injector. They fixed this for me the same day by doing a reprogramming of the ecu and it corrected the problem and much cheaper than what the head gasket cost.

Hmm, not going to debate petrol/diesel since I have covered it many times before. Anyway, first things first, forget the seller. Private seller really is buyer beware. As for the issues, don't worry about the crack from the dash for now. It is a common problem on all second generation IS's, and you have more important things to worry about. The surge in power is most likely EGR/DPF related. More often than not, it is a dirty EGR valve causing it. Don't think it would cost you £200 to have fixed. Usually, it is an hours work with only a socket set required. I have cleaned mine twice now and it was pretty straightforward. The gearbox doesn't have the best shift from first to second at the best of times. However, it should never jump out of gear. About the only inexpensive thing you can do to the gearbox is change the oil, but I doubt it will stop it popping out of gear. I have only seen one other instance of gear popping on this forum, and in that case it need a rebuild. Not a cheap proposition. As Linus has pointed out above, the grey smoke is rather worrying. It indicates that oil is being burnt. However, the odd thing is that you say it goes away when the car is warm? If it was the head gasket, I would have thought it would do it all the time, although it is possible it is still the gasket. There are other signs to look for though; for example, is it losing oil? Does the amount of smoke increase when you accelerate harder? What I would suggest is taking it to a mechanic to check over. Then, if he comes back with anything like a gearbox rebuild or head gasket, try and get it part exchanged at a larger dealer. They are usually less thorough when it comes to inspecting part ex's.

On my last LS430 I had problems with the rear sensors, one was replaced but the other was easily taken apart, cleaned and resealed. So even if the sensors do play up they can very easily be taken off and repaired, it's generally only water damage where the seals fail. Maybe people are too quick to replace when repairs are possible and cheap.

Battery came today - fitting took 10 minutes - surprisingly, the old battery sprang back to life as soon as I threatened to replace it. Will keep it as a spare but the issue with the old one was that it was losing its charge a bit when leaving the car undriven for a couple of days. Don't think 10 years is too bad for a battery life. The new one is a perfect fit and the car starts almost immediately when the start button is pressed.

I spoke to the independent Lexus service centre, Lex Tech, in Sheffield as mentioned on this forum. The owner tells me he has over 20 years experience at a main dealer, and was trained on Lexus. Can't confirm but he sounds like he knows what he is talking about and I plan to use him. I asked him about the air suspension on 430's and how prevalent were problems. He said in his opinion these problems were over stated, he was not aware of it being a big issue , and that most problems related to the sensors, which he was able to cheaply and easily deal with. i have always taken the view that my car drives so beautifully, to replace it with a modern version would cost 'at least 'over £3k per year in depreciation alone, and I would be happy to spend that amount , which covers any suspension problems, and hopefully ....... happy days. Of course I hope that day does not arrive yet and I have more mileage in current air suspension. Happy motoring, Roger

You missed a bit [emoji13] Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

No posts here for a few days so thought id chuck some up, can you tell im still loving it! Washed/detailed inside/out on weekends

Hi fellow comrades Erring on the grumpy sometimes, it's an age thing probs, Black Friday means lots of bad things not least once again copying a society lagging behind Europe by about 300 years. It also means not being able to get to eat out unless you've booked. Having said all that, I've managed my cheapest oil change for my LS400. Thanks to heavy discounting, prices weighed in at: £21.98 including delivery to my door for 6ltrs of Shell Helix and £11.99 for a genuine oil filter and washer. Total £33.97. I stocked up on 10ltrs of ready mixed red long-life coolant at a Total of £12.14 but that's for the S Type Jag that now has a shopping list of repairs I have to attend to. (Coolant leak - thermostat tower I believe so a metal beefed up version will be £45 plus a thermostat - suppose I have to do that too; non-functioning washers - leaking pipe I think as motors doing their best; cam cover oil leak; non telescoping steering wheel. I think the voltage drain is fixed by a good quality battery - auto elec told me to steer clear of Lion Brand. Drive shaft boot shot. Air con pipe been gone for years and the part alone is £300 and no way am I attempting that repair. Oh and gearbox needs a service plus a couple of solenoids). The LS400? Oil change, still got 2ltrs of tranny fluid for a mini refresh and oil for the diff. Yes lower suspension arms need attention. Lexus is just ahead on mileage at 79k over the Jag's 70k. I've a pair of front Blue Print roll bar bushes (made in Japan I note) to fit as a precautionary/service measure. Will be busy righting all these wrongs...

Hi I have got a 59 plate RX450 SEL Prem with ACC/PCS and find it excellent use a lot for keeping distance from traffic on motorway easy to use and you can adjust distance 3 diff settings, available above 30mph but will drop below and if speed drops below 25mph switches off but does alert you. You can increase max speed setting in 5mph increments. PCS is on all time and will warn you in HUD and bleeps if a car gets to close in front flashes BRAKE and if you dont react it brakes but on few occasions it has come on i have braked not willing to risk it! ML hifi is superb.

I agree with phil - the LS430 is a nice place to be in and for me especially during the last 3 weeks since i have ditched the Dunlops and had the Avons fitted - the car is even quiter and smoother. The air suspension risk is there but I am not really worried nor do i think of going back to the 400 becuase of this. The LS430 is a big step forward - with the keyless entry, soft close doors (I close mine this way all the time), reverse camera and allround modern interior. For me to be 100% happy with a car I like to have alot of repect for it - I have alot of respect for the 430 - sadly i do not feel same in any other car (probably never will) - even when driving a very modern bmw 5 series with a 25k price tag - just not the same!

I believe the air suspension issue is less common than it's made out to be. If it does need replacing the cost is around £950 to fit conventional springs. Given the low prices that the LS430 can be bought for, and the way preventative measures for other possible failures can be taken care of for relatively low cost, I think the LS430 eclipses the LS400. Earlier this year I went back to an LS400, and although it clearly has its merits, the LS430 is a beautifully engineered machine, which in my opinion is superior. I speak as someone who has owned three LS400's and two LS430's. Just my thoughts.

Yes- 14mpg! I know its mad. Thats why I posted this on here! I'm getting to the desperate point of thinking I should just sell the car on having only just bought it! "Something's wrong..."- I would think so, although I paid for a full check from Dekra and they couldn't find any faults but then they dont check the engine bay properly as part of their testing! Others be warned- they only check the basics and you pay through the nose for the privelege! "Doing something wrong..."? Like what?! Driving it? Maybe I should just leave it sitting outside the house- it would be lower fuel consumption (?!), hmmm...but then how do I get to work??! Thanks for your ever so helpful comments anyway!