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I know this has been discussed before, but having requested advice on various issues, I thought I'd put a recommendation on that someone may find useful. Having had two genuine Toyota batteries fail after around 3 years, my current one just out of warranty, I thought it was time to shop around. It's been said on this forum that only a Toyota battery will fit properly, this is not true. After some research, looking at spec, branding, warranties and price, I decided I wanted a Bosch battery , the S4 series with a 4 year warranty. I just fitted a Bosch S4 026 battery and it is a perfect fit. The spec matches my Toyota battery exactly, with 630A and 70 Ah. So I have a new battery, same spec with 4 year guarantee instead of 3, and it was cheaper. For those with a Costco card, they sell them at the lowest price (it may be a special order and take a couple of days, although I was lucky, they had one in stock), without the potential faff and expense of buying online and potentially having to return a heavy battery by post if a fault develops. If you get one, the correct battery is the S4 026, not the S4 027, which is identical except the terminals are the wrong way around, don't ask me how I know. Hopefully, someone may find this useful. For those of you with a cynical bent, I have no connection with either Bosch or Costco, it's just a recommendation

I've been on LOC for a number of years now but not owned a Lexus for about 3/4 years and sorry to disappoint but I've bought an 05 GS300 SE as I've fancied one for some time. Really like the dash layout and standard kit which puts the BMW 5 series to shame but sorry to see the "W" reg E39 go after 4 years as it was a great car in lovely nick. I bought an 03 MB S280 in January, again lovely nick 72000 miles face lift model FSH which I'm quite enjoying. I'll still watch this page but it's time to inform the GS site now of my car. Jim

In Barbados at the moment on holiday and car watching has been fun. Lots of Japanese card including Suzuki, Toyota and Nissan. I haven't seen a single Lexus in 10 days. Roads are terrible mind you. You'd need an air suspension turned to to the max to get anything like a smooth ride! Right, off to enjoy this for a couple more days. Sent from my LG-H870DS using Tapatalk

So without wanting to count too many chickens just yet... The HP fuel pump is easy to replace. Lexus quoted 1.3 hours which I guess is fair enough as everyone needs a tea break at some point (I don't actually have any complaint about their estimate - I understand what they need to cover!). Remove the air hose from the throttle body, or you can't get at some of the below - 10mm for the jubilee clip 2x 12mm nuts (pump flange to top end of engine) - no access problems for those, but you'll need a deep socket and an extension. 2x E8 studs - there is other pipework in the way if you try to remove the pump without taking the studs out 19mm spanner for the fuel connection closest to the back of the engine. You can get a spanner on there with enough clearance to turn it - persevere! Spring clip on the small fuel hose, quick (squeeze!) release on the remaining one and one electrical connector Total about an hour including getting tools out, 'help' from a 7-year old and tidying up afterwards. And yes, it seems to be working so far. 😎

So I took the plunge and opted for the Grom VLine Lite system so I could take advantage of Apple CarPlay. I saw that no one has really bought the unit before and done an install so I decided to take it upon myself to see how easy it would be to install. Disclaimer* Apple CarPlay needs to be 'activated' once installed! Fairly simple; press on it 11 times. This is the box that arrives with the top lid opened. Above shows the connectors on the rear of the unit. On the left is the DisplayPort connector that will run to the head unit behind the screen. the connector on the right is for the power cable that will run to the bottom of the head unit. I haven't really seen a clear image of the front panel online so here we have HDMI IN, USB 1 (mainly for iPhones), USB 2 (mainly for Android and any other USB device), HDMI OUT, SD Card Port (below the HDMI OUT port), proprietary connector; used for connecting AUX, front facing camera, rear facing camera (not needed if you have the factory reversing camera as the car will still automatically default to the main reversing camera), GPS (again not needed if you're using Apple Maps, Google Maps, Waze etc which will use your phone GPS), and an adapter for connecting a touch screen panel if your car wasn't fitted with a touch screen, then we have a Mic In port and the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth antenna. The above image shows the power cable that will run to the OEM head unit and below that is the proprietary connector cable that connects to the various aux devices (it is not needed to run the Grom System and can be left out if not needed, such as in my case) The cable on the left with the blue connectors is the display cable, the cable in the middle is the USB extension cable and the cable on the right is the Mic cable. Above shows all the components of the kit laid out on the table awaiting installation. Probably the hardest part was trying to get the air vent out. The 4 tabs (that have been circled in the picture and can be slightly seen) need to be pulled down and then the vent assembly can be taken out with the help of some trim removal tools. I found a video on YouTube showing me how to do this and it can be quite tricky! Beneath the vent is a cable with two connectors that needs to be disconnected and removed before you can set the air vent aside. You then need to remove the 2 triangular plastic trim bits below which is super easy; just pull them towards you and they should pop out. Or use a pry tool! Use a 10mm socket with an extension to take out the two upper bolts holding in the head unit. Then move onto the two lower 10mm bolts holding in the head unit. If you're worried about dropping the bolts then you can always use a set of extension magnets. These were bought on Amazon and really came in handy. Clearly they came in use when trying to take the bolts out and placing them back in as my Halfords toolkit wasn't magnetised 😞 You can unscrew the gear knob and press the 'shift lock' button to move the gear into DRIVE and leave it there. I felt this helped but it's totally up to you. Lay down a cloth and bring the headhunt out and lay it down on the cloth. This is needed as the bottom of the headunit is short and will definitely scratch your trim if not used. The display cable is a Y shape cable, with one going into the Grom Unit and the other two behind the head unit. The cable has a male and female end. If there was something already inserted in your head unit(it's a blue connector so it can't be missed) then take it out and insert it into the female end of the Y cable, then insert the male end of the Y cable into the slot that's empty in the head unit. The picture should help clarify! The power cable is essentially the same sort of Y cable. In my case there was nothing plugged in so I just had to find the slot and insert the connector. Above shows the power cable connected to the head unit which was originally vacant. Above shows where I ran both cables so they could route into the glovebox. I decided to remove the passenger air vent so I could get access to the top of the glovebox. This is straightforward as it pulls straight out but be careful as there is a connector attached. For those of you who have changed your air filter, you know there is a panel at the rear of the glovebox that needs to be removed. On TOP of that cover is another cover that can be opened slightly to allow the cable to enter the glovebox. It's quite hard to see from the picture but the cables were routed into the glovebox and came in somewhere near the middle. Above shows approximately where the cables entered the glovebox. I should mention that this is where I found it easiest to run the cables. You may have a different opinion! Now would be a good time to run the microphone. I attached it to the ceiling, just behind the rear view mirror and ran the cable around the window. I opened the side air bag cover on the A pillar to run the cable down and tucked in in behind the rubber seals in the door and ran it through to the glovebox. Above shows the rear of the unit in the glovebox. It should be mounted so the display and power cables are facing the passenger door, and the USB cables should be facing the driver. I placed the unit on the glovebox divider and secured it down with double sided tape. Trust me; it's not going anywhere! Now would be a good time to do a test run. I turned on the car and pressed 'DVD' on the head unit and voila, it entered into the Grom system. I forgot to take a picture of the grom home screen, but Apple CarPlay was activated and works a treat. I shall hopefully do a review of the Grom system and Apple CarPlay if I have time or will make a video if I can find another camera. For £370 yes it is expensive even for such a basic system but or someone who uses Apple CarPlay a lot, I guess I can justify the price!

Proof that the spanner fits: @Farqui Yes, I decided that as it seems nobody else has ever seen one go wrong, a used one would be a safe enough bet! I believe a lot of GR-engined cars (is250, gs300 etc.) use the same pump, but as I didn't find definitive proof on that, mine came from another 450h!

@Billnick I found it quite useful! The only issue I’m having is that it’s hard to hear people on the phone. I find myself turning the volume up to around 40 to hear people however they can hear me just fine. Apart from that there’s no issues 😄 I find myself using Siri often to send texts to my friends and wife and so far it hasn’t had any trouble understanding me which is great.

Great write up, I installed my VLINE2 in exactly the same way. If you are thinking of VLINE2 or VLITE, the install is the same as shown here. Very easy, don't be afraid. @iSalajee Out of interest, how are you finding the phone feature? I find the person on the end of the phone has echo using VLINE with Apple CarPlay so I opt for the Lexus bluetooth instead. Texting via Siri is very very useful indeed.

Well, I was T boned off my bike a couple of weeks ago, I've been "fitted" with a walking "moon boot" thing as my left ankle got thoroughly rogered by the BMW that T boned me. Lateral Malleus cracked and some soft tissue damage, so it's broke. 6 weeks of moon boot. Great fun. Not an unstable break though luckily. I had a lot of "fun" changing the spark plugs last weekend, the old ones don't look like they have been in there for 120,000 miles, but the car definitely runs better now. Might be because two of the plugs in the rear bank were barely finger tight. So my transport to work is the Lexus RX at the moment. 900 miles and a bit a week... I tried the Jaguar, I could get in easily enough, took me about 3 minutes to get back out, I think I know how Douglas Bader felt when he got his leg stuck climbing out of his aircraft all those years ago. Moon boot got stuck on everything... I use Esso or Shell, normal grade. But I went into Sainsbury's and got a "Double points and 5p a litre off" ticket so I thought I'd use it and filled the car from the idiot light. 69 litres. Call this unscientific if you like, but for two weeks I have done more or less the same journey. Starting at 05:30, off Hayling Island, onto the A3, off at the M25, to the A41 then to my work site at Century Park. Then home again at about 17:30 so I miss most of the waiting around on the M25. 190 mile round trip. And I can get two days from a full tank easily. No real worries, I put 68 litres back in and off I go again. Except I only got 356 miles from the Sainbury's fill until the idiot light came on, and had to top up with expensive south bound A3 BP garage fuel. So I didn't actually save anything. The weather wasn't much different, I always run the climate control in Auto, no more or less traffic than normal, just a loss of quite a chunk of miles from one fill of supermarket fuel. So I won't be using it again unless it comes free with a hot and cold running chambermaid option.

If you are looking around £16/17K you are probably in the earlier years of the model range (2014/15) depending on trim - I have a pdf brochure I've attached here dated Jan 2016 that has the specs of all trims - over time specs change so may not be totally accurate for earlier cars but it might give you a reasonable starting point when comparing trim levels for what you might want to narrow down to. Lexus IS.pdf

I have never had a brand new car but what a feeling it must be to sit in it for the first time, to remove all the protective films, new car smell etc! I get excited when I get a new phone I would be over the moon with the new car! :) Your car looks great, a good looking ES! Congratulations! I guess it will be a long weekend for you to wait until 12th of August! :)

So it's a more sophisticated modern equivalent of taking a magnet with you like I used to do many, many moons ago 😊 I've just looked up Paint Detective Les and at almost £200 I think I'll stick to my magnet (see what I did there - 'stick' to my magnet... I'll get me coat )

Wow, I'd have been reaching for the valium halfway through that!

Great write-up and pictures. [emoji3] Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

That is a myth spread by lazy tyre fitters. Up to getting this RX450h I've been running LPG cars for the last 15 years with the gas tank in the spare wheel well, ergo no spare wheel. I needed to use the goo on one occasion but then went to my usual trusted mechanic for the puncture repair instead of places like KwikFit, ATS et al and he did it without any problems at all. It took a little time to clean the rim but it is eminently doable.

I think I've found the leak, and it's not where I thought. As has been suggested I had a look in the boot after reading about an RX400 with water ingress, and yes, It's coming from the rear. So, now to fix it, but not till next week. I did however clear out some light debris which had gone under the plastic trim adjacent to rear lights and water ingress seems minimal now. We've been plagued with torrential showers here over the last few days, and this has actually helped to pinpoint the problem. i don't relish drying the carpets though, Pete

When we fill up with shell v power petrol and I pull back out on to the road my heads up display changes and Jeremy clarkson shouts powerrrrrrrrrr 😈

I edited and re-uploaded the images so they should be visible!

There was 4 marks to the LS400 Mark 1 - 1989 -1991 Mark 2 - 1991 - 1995 Mark 3 - 1995 - 1997 Mark 4 - 1998 - 2000 I think the mark 3 has the best looks

Another little update. 65156 miles, 17th scheduled service and an MOT yesterday. £223 at Lexus Sheffield. Still running like a Seiko

Hmmm welcome to lexusville would you like to breath our cool filtered showroom air that's £20 please lol I wonder if it's vegan friendly lol

Maybe this will be helpful?

If you getting wheels refurbished this is quite good deal, they did good job on my calipers and I believe I have seen some good feedback on wheels (haven't done myself). It is 6h until deal ends. https://bcs-wheel-refurb.com/wheel-refurb-deal-order-form-01 https://pimpmycalipers.com/brake-caliper-painting-deal01#tmp_order2step-11469 You can get 16-17" done for £167 + £35 delivery And I am seriously thinking about doing my 18" for £187 + £35 delivery 4 Caliper + high end paint £187 as well, I have paid north of £400 last time and it was with with 30% discount. This is like £50-60 wheel, pretty hard to beat. I guess if that is standard "alloy silver" or black finish maybe not so much, but doing Lexus Shadow Chrome/Phantom Grey on 18" F-sport rims are usually £100+ per wheel.

Nice reply Mauler thanks. I believe you're right - now I've got a copy of Techstream, I can see that there are in fact 6 or 7 ECU's in the Lexus !! Much to my surprise. And a separate one for ABS / VSC, as you say. Mate if you're having trouble with drivers - I work in IT - I could fire you over a bundle of the drivers that are workihg for me on Win. 10, if you like ?

A little update on this particular IS. As I've mentioned before it is a keeper but unfortunately isn't a fit for me right now so my dad drives it. He's 81 and does catch the odd curb or put a little scuff on the corner but nothing that couldn't be sorted quickly and (fairly) cheaply if circumstances changed. Most importantly he does very few miles and it's garaged every night. Fast forward to the week just gone and the parents were due to join us in Devon for a week but I could tell the drive was making my dad a little nervous so my wife drove the S-Max and I drove the IS 300. A quick look at the tyre pressures, check the oil and off we went. While we were on the way down the car turned 63k and all in all it was a 600 mile round trip. 17 years old, the cruise control set at an indicated 80mph and the car never missed a beat. Not a single cough or hiccup. One of the most underrated and/or overlooked cars I have ever had the pleasure to own.

Absolutely. A full geo is essential. Look for a garage which does Hunter laser alignments. They’re very good and set everything up relative to the thrust angle of the car. Expect it to take an hour maybe slightly longer, and cost around £80-100. It’s worth it. The garage may even ask you if you want the car setting up for motorway driving, fast road, track etc. When I had my ISF sorted, they weighed down the driver’s seat so the car was set up perfectly for me driving it! Don’t get a Kwik-Fit £30 ‘alignment’, they’re pointless.

After some research I opted for an aftermarket rearlip with diffuser. Had to cut off the tips bending down, but I was able to bolt on aftermarket exhaust tips on that similar to the OEM ones.

Here we go... Not the best pics I'm afraid. I had to bring it inside. I went over the car with a fine tooth comb and other than a little wear and tear I think it can be described as mint. I can't recommend Lexus Sheffield enough. The whole process was professional, personal and efficient from start to finish. I may have paid top money for it but they've carried out an intermediate service, fitted two new tyres to the front, tracked it, MOT'd it, taxed it for 12 months, given me a year's breakdown cover and a 1 year warranty. The valet is excellent too. All in all very pleased and I've had chance to drive it all of about 5 miles! Better pics to come.

Doesn't everyone do that?