Leaderboard

You can take the actuator apart and replace the worn out £5 electric motor if you enjoy that kind of thing. When I get around to swapping mine out, I may do just that and keep it as a spare although the assembly is door specific. Probably worth having a load check done on the battery anyway, as when they get bad, these cars can throw some weird problems at ya. Considering how very complex they are, the reliability is really awesome. Some things like Windows, mirror adjusters, steering column adjusters and the sunroof can suffer if they are not used very often. My mirror adjustment buttons often require several stabs before they start working. 120K is fairly low mileage for a 20 year old car (6k per year). Mine is 17 years old and has 128k miles.

WD40 is all you need in the glovebox to keep a SC430 on the road ! 😁

Thanks George! 1: I was hoping it would it be the actuator as that's just plug in and bolt down.. lock mechanisms can be a ball ache ime. But then the fact it locks when pressed twice shows that something must be working. 2: Mileage is 120k. Seems a bit better this morning.. yesterday it was groaning and slow like the motor is on it's way out. 4: Terrific as I forgot to add that it only happens when cold! So at least that's one thing ticked off 😊 Cheers pal.

Don't attempt to pry off the grille as they have plastic pegs that are sonic welded. My car literally had one break and wasn't sitting flush and rattles, so I had to repair it by taking it out. That means, side bolsters out, bench seat out, seats down, plastic trims behind the seat out, srs curtain trims out and THEN the shelf lifts out!

Sealing up the transmission was a way to stop the fluid absorbing moisture as it essentially becomes a sealed system - the pressure valves being filtered. Manufacturer thinking is that period fluid change actually increases water content/contamination into the fluid, especially as if you just to a pan drain and refill you are only replacing 1/4 of the total fluid. Toyota/Lexus do recommend replacement every 60k miles if you are on a heavy maintenance schedule (taxi, only ever short journeys) but never if on a standard schedule. Wear is minimal, good for 200k miles on the original fluid so whilst replacing fluid will reduce wear for most owners and vehicle lifetime it isn't a concern. Personally I'd probably replace at 100k miles if you intended to keep the vehicle for a number of years. For transmissions with a dipstick, maybe a pan drain/refill at 60k and then every 20k miles. Especially on something known to have issues, like the series I RX300.

You replace the transmission oil to limit the amount of partical build up in the oil . On an aircraft engine you do periodic spectrometric oil analysis program and chip detectors to monitor the wear in the parts r=that ends up in the fluid and magnetic plates in the sump . These particals will eventually end up acausing further wear and solenoid problems . SO if you replace oil in transmission at a reasonable interval then you minimise the wear internally . End of story ! Jeez ...this is worse than a Trump conference !

Yes... I agree that procedure overall is the same, but just wanted to note it, in case the capacity of the oil or some other details would differ. For example if you want to replace all fluid at once, then you will need new gasket and new fluid filter... and at that point it becomes important that you actually order the parts for the right gearbox... isn't it? As for preventative maintenance I agree... where it makes sense. However, you would not change your engine pistons, rings or head-gasket as a "preventative" maintenance would you? Sure if they broken and if they need changing, and if it makes economical sense you will do it, but not as a preventative maintenance. Same here - automatic transmission fluid isn't a scheduled maintenance job, it does not need frequent changing and doing it incorrectly may cause catastrophic failure. As such - if you have no issues with gearbox, you don't need to create ones yourself. Now where I agree - "life-time" fill is non-sense, gearbox fluid will require changing eventually and you need to change it when you have a reason for it. It is doable, it is possible to do it all at once and it could help to extend life of the gearbox, but this is not something you should do as scheduled or as a "preventative" maintenance. So the final question - how do you know when to do it? There are few things which could indicate it - early shifts, late shift, harsh shift, higher fuel consumption, car being in wrong gear for no reason e.g. staying in 5th on motorway... and perhaps eventually faults coming from solenoids (as they are sensitive to viscosity of the fluid). The above is official list from workshop manual and in such case fluid "refresh" or change is recommend. In the end that is just my opinion, but if you don't have one of above issues then there is no point risking it.

You b******d I knew there was something going on.

Has it been serviced regularly particularly the air filter and oil. How is the car used, just around town or longer higher speed journeys, a good run can do wonders on a town dwelling car.

Just an update. Avoid these alternators from Schmitz Rotary Engineering Ltd, they sell them on ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132242571162 Before I purchased it, they said to me these are really good quality and apparently it's made in the same factory as Delco Remy and that they buy factory excess stock as unbranded to keep prices down. But this is absolute rubbish. Then they put a sticker on it that matches the model number of a Lucas alternator. These alternators are absolutely crap. I bought myself a Denso genuine one and all the problems are solved and it's perfect. I tested this rubbish ebay one with a multimeter and diodes and everything have failed. The clutch in the pulley doesn't work. Absolutely rubbish. I came across a few other people who bought from these guys and their alternators worked for few months then failed and the company doesnt take it back unless you have it professionally installed and can prove it. Luckily with me they have no choice as i'm within the eBay buyer protection time-frame and ebay have forced them to take it back. Regardless of the rubbish policies, they sold on ebay so they have to follow eBay rules. Furthermore, the eBay's feedback system is rather flawed. Because I saw that they sold over 60 units of the alternator and they had 100% positive feedback. So I thought thats quite good. But then for example i've returned mine and because i've returned mine then I cannot leave feedback. So really the feedback isn't accurate because people who return their product can't really leave feedback. Furthermore, they sold 60+ of these but only have 9 positive feedback for these items. If you google the company name, you will see a lot of bad reviews too. Considering the amount of work needed to change the alternator and there are too many expensive electronics on board to be damaged by a defective alternator. It's just not worth the risk for the little bit of savings to get these crappy alternators.

You sound the same age as me John, dad had a 1946 Hillman Minx it had semaphores and a opening windscreen and doors hinged on the B pillar, didn't do a de-coke but remember buying pads and a bag of copper rivets and fixing them to the old brake shoes.

Bought a pair of shorts in the summer with zippers on the cargo and back pockets for extra security. Realised after that I can't wear them in the car. So ones with velcro fastenings purchased.

And probably a good opportunity to put some tyres on them.... Roadcruza and Tree-A does not sound like brands I would like trust to keep me alive. On any road conditions... heck even stationary car...

"the outside mirrors were located on the front of the cars wings and useless". and the wipers were vacuum operated the indicators were semaphore the windscreen opened outwards the drivers door was hinged at the B pillar the plugs could be changed in a short while a de-coke was performed every 10,000 miles and,and,and

the mirror on the front windscreen was working. Remember that i come from a generation when the outside mirrors were located on the front of the cars wings and useless.

Hi Alex, not quite click and collect but I did buy a 2017 IS300h from an Audi dealer 137 miles away in December. The process went like this: I listed the spec for the car I wanted and did the usual trawl round various websites, no luck for a few weeks as I didn't want to compromise Found what looked to be a perfect match at a Lexus dealer 50 miles away, called and arranged a test drive for when the early December lockdown was lifted, 10 day wait.. In the meantime, kept looking and found same spec car, much lower mileage but long distance away Called the dealer, convinced him I was a serious buyer but I didn't want to drive that distance just to be disappointed by either the quality of the car or his reluctance to negotiate. Dealer made an extensive video of the car and sent it to me, close ups of all points of interest Called the dealer and we negotiated a price over the phone subject to satisfactory test drive, paid a £500 refundable holding fee Made the journey, if the truth be known I was having the car before I'd finished watching the video Test drove the car, did a bit of teeth sucking, told him I really didn't want a red car but if he threw in a tankfull of petrol I'd take it off his hands as he shouldn't have a Lexus in an Audi showroom. I absolutely DID want a red one by the way Did the paperwork and drove home grinning from ear to ear, if anything the grin is even wider now Not quite a click and collect, I couldn't bring myself to do it although if he'd have pushed me I would have done it as it was the perfect car and not an easy colour/interior combo to find Long winded but hope it helps.

Cool Track with Daft Punk featuring Paul Williams

After seeing this I looked through my jeans and removed the metal on the rear of them. Stupid companies that put metal ads on rear pockets and stupid me that has not noticed before. Such things can do a lot of damage to leather seats. Luckily nothing happened to our seats.

For a while I've been looking at the possibility of getting an MX-5, guess who came up on eBay selling one! He's also got a GS300 for sale!

One thing that's maybe worth a mention, I've emailed Rock in the past asking if they have a part that isn't listed and their reply was "if it isn't listed on our website we don't have it"

You are right there John. I am still in disbelieve I got it rectified so easy.

Lexus has advised me that if any BT problems, it could do with a firmware upgrade if its available. Worth calling a dealer and enquiring.

I've ordered a New UX Was lucky in that I managed to sneak in a two hour test drive between Christmas and New Year when this was allowed so I know what spec and colour combo etc I wanted and was happy with the drive of the car. Might just be me but on a test drive I go home from the dealer and back. Gives a good idea of car in familiar surroundings. Order is in and waiting for the build to start now. I've ordered in the end from Lexus Birmingham as they could better the price of my usual excellent dealer at Leicester.

I've found the newer WLTP economy figures are much more realistic and easily achievable.

And buying from Rock and using FedEx the tax is prepaid and parts will arrive within 5 days, using the post option will mean paying tax on arrival plus handling charge!

As the 400h has its battery in the engine bay it gets dirty and subject to moisture. Definitely worth cleaning it every year to stop a resistive path being formed across the top of the battery and adding to the drain. You can measure how bad it is with a voltmeter - I think I read over 1 volt once on my old 400h.

£80?! That is cheap I would say, I think most places in Scotland would charge you £200 and above (just polishing)! I think they call it paint restoration but considering they removed 90% of swirls and scratches it is still well money spent!

MAx, keep us posted please on how it performs. The bag you got of amazon is much bigger than the one I have so theoretically should do a good job. Thanks

I've never been keen on lexus Leeds. I've always used Lexus Bradford but they've closed so having to use Toyota Bradford instead but they employ lexus staff

Thanks all, just put my order in for two 1kg weight dark/black pouches to try and blend in, will see how effective they are 👍🏻

Err a few scratches 🤭😷😂 By the way the flickering dash lights....battery was flat. No probs before working on the car and I know disconnect before...depends upon what you are doing. If you disconnect earth leads/open door and boot etc the battery drains very fast. Charged over night and so far all good.

Pretty sure a decent seamstress (or whatever they're called nowadays) would be able to knock you one up and fill it with this. It'd be something like the old draught excluder my granny used to have 🙂. They've even got them on eBay..

That's exactly the same behaviour as my IS300h. During the coronavirus lockdown last year I needed to keep the 12volt battery charged and as recommended by Lexus I put the car in Ready for an hour a week. Having nothing better to do, I logged the hybrid battery state of charge and when the engine started and stopped, (as well as the 12 volt battery charge). I don't have Techstream but I was also using the Hybrid Assistant app which shows a lot of useful data including the percentage charge of the hybrid battery. What I found was that the hybrid battery charge would run down to 40% (equivalent to two bars on the dashboard meter) and then the engine would start. It would keep running until the hybrid battery reached 50% charge, which was displayed as three bars, and then the engine would stop. The state of charge would then gradually go down again (I had the radio on too but I doubt it uses a lot of charge compared with the air conditioning which was also on.) After 10 minutes it was down to 40% again (two bars) and the engine would start again. And so on. This was at outdoor temperatures when little or no heating was needed. In winter weather the engine will keep running a bit longer to keep the cabin warm and the bars on the battery gauge will go higher than three. The instinct of most people when they start using this hybrid system is to want the battery to be full, as you would with the petrol tank. But the point of the battery is to store spare electricity generated from braking. If the battery is already full the car has to throw away the energy as heat. So a good compromise level for the battery is around 50% - that leaves plenty of capacity to store regenerated energy but at the same time has a good store of energy to add to a sudden burst of acceleration. Incidentally, the bars don't represent the battery's actual capacity. The computer will aim to prevent the battery going below 40% by starting the engine, or above 80% by using the electric motor to spin the engine without using petrol, which you might notice happening after going down a long hill and getting up to eight bars on the meter. Keeping the battery within this 40-80% range prolongs its working life.

Lovely car Denis. I strongly suggest find a car body shop to de swirl and polish your car. Doing it yourself unless you have a DA will be so time consuming and you could do more damage than good. I took my is250 to a body shop I know as my car had thousands of scratches and swirls. £80 later over 90% gone and gleaming. Look in the 2nd gen is250 section and look for a thread titled 13yr old paint. That's my car.

Here go the pictures of my car. Finally remembered to take them during the day 😄 Very happy with the car.

My air-con is always on too Vlad. It is not sensible to turn it off.

Reading is part of the Jemca Group along with Croydon,Edgeware and Sidcup. Do searches for Lexus Reading and Lexus MK.

I have those in stock and also an equivalent “Automotive Grade” version to the specs mentioned previously by Colin. I can also fit them for you 😀

My fitment is front 8.5j wheels 35et with 225/35/19 tyres and rear is 9.5j et35 with 255/35/19 tyres the front inner arches need heating and rolled out alittle but now no problems at all! Coilovers lowered to sit just lower them top of tyres no idea on how much it's lowered just its low lol

Probably posted before, but if only it was as easy to replace the battery as the Mercedes AA class

These seem to have all in common with the fuse No1 in engine compartment fuse box No2.

I doubt you would get one much cheaper than is one for £688 from a Lexus dealer. https://lexuspartsdirect.co.uk/parts/lexus-ct/lexus-ct-2010-onwards/lexus-ct-engine-service-kits/lexus-ct-phase-1-exhaust-front-section-and-catalytic-convertor/ An aftermarket one would be cheaper: https://www.cats2u.co.uk/lexus/35435-lexus-ct200h-18-catalytic-converter-04-14-on-bm92675h-bm92675h.html

Check the car park signage to determine if you can pursue the owners for negligence. Have you asked to view the cctv footage Phil ?

+1 enjoy your car and give the engine bay a clean yourself you know its been done properly. And you'll reconnect with the car and make it yours again. Sounds odd I know, but it works for me!

you've done well James with that price of £768 if the head gasket set is £200 ,a skim £80, new head bolts £100 they havent charged much for labour dont forget you will have a 12month lexus guarantee on the work carried out as well for piece of mind. enjoy your car and give the engine bay a clean yourself you know its been done properly.

Barry: To judge by your photo no fragments of leather appear to be missing within the damaged area, so it is possible that a skilled leatherworker, perhaps an upholsterer, could carry out a virtually invisible repair. But I certainly wouldn’t count on anybody in a car workshop having the necessary skill. Regardless of any solution you and your dealer work out, I would suggest you ask for at least a free service to compensate you for the irritation.

Do let us all know how you get on Barry. I think that Nemesis is probably right and that a repair would be an inadequate response from the currently unnamed Lexus Dealership.

Thanks Nemesis, yes that's what I was thinking too, it went to have a Supaguard treatment and also dash cams fitted front and rear between my test drive and picking the car up. I didn't even think to look at the seats when getting the car as I had never seen this on my old IS, I will see what the dealer says, I will also look at the back and passenger seats too. It is my 4 Lexus from them (2 second hand and 2 new) I was pretty annoyed when I seen it last night, I thought it was just a mark or bit of thread until closer investigation. Barry

Never a problem in either of my RC300h cars. A car with 50 miles on the clock? An ex-demo car? Could have had dozens of bums in that seat. Either way somebody has sat in that seat with perhaps a pen in their back pocket, service tech? Or someone has lent on the seat holding a something pointy. We can guess all day! The leather in these cars are lovely and soft but also hard wearing. A repair is possible but would always be visible, especially as you know it's there. I'd push for a replacement cover.

Don’t put all weather/all season/winter only across one axle. If you hit snow/ice this will lead to a big imbalance front to back and could result in serious oversteer.