The Transporter

Indeed I do though it does need the front bumper and bonnet blowing in because of stone chips... Then I'll give it a good scrubbing underneath and waxoyling.. For every day use I tend to use the old jeep or the van the car only really gets used for longer distances and round Europe as it is perfect for the two of us. I had the wheels powder coated last year as they were starting to look a bit scruffy...

Euro Car Parts... about 85 quid... Fitted one last week..... Let's hope you haven't cooked the engine

Well my 05 reg 200 is at that age where she needs a little attention.. I have noticed that the aircon compressor was getting a little noisy over the last couple of years and on a trip down south a couple of weeks ago was annoyingly loud so it was time to have a look and sort it out..... The rattling was coming from the guts of the compressor so I ordered a new one along with a new condenser (Although it was still leak free, has lost a fair few finns and the others were well corroded) Stripped off the old condenser and compressor and flushed out the pipework to remove the old lubricant and any bits of the old compressor... The lube was still clear but had a reasonable quantity of aluminium shavings in it.... Fitted the new compressor and condenser, applied a good long vacuum to remove any traces of air, refilled with nice clean PAG lubricant and refrigerant and tested....Peace and quiet from the engine bay returns.. Whilst The vacuum pump was doing its stuff, I turned my attention to the radiator, that was starting to look a little tatty too (Corroded finns) and there was a suspicious damp patch in the lower area so a swift trip to my local ECP saw me kitted out with a new radiator, refilled the system, bled it through fitted 3 new drive belts and she is good for another 9 years... Just whe I had run out of stuff to do, I decided that I may as well chang the engine oil and filter, gearbox and axle oil.... And then had a nice cup of tea Happy days... :)

If they never use it then there would be little if any refrigerant in the system... If the system is off then there will be no benefit in removing the aircon compressor but if it makes you feel better you could remove the drive belt....

Even if you don't do anything else to the car, change your engine oil and filter....Engine oil is the hardest working component in your car.....Especially if you make lots of short trips.

Hi Alex, I'm sorry to hear about your car....I've never needed to but engine components for my IS200 but it may work out cheaper once you have stripped the engine down to replace the entire engine or head for one from an MOT failure or an accident damaged car rather than rebuilding what you have..

Give the battery a good charge with a trickle charger....Sounds like you ran it flat defrosting the car.

Or you could learn to do these jobs yourself.

I very much doubt that the boot will leak round the boot seal due to the huge lip round the boot but without pulling the car apart (I'll do that when the weather is warmer and a bit drier) I would be inclined to have a close look at the seals round the rear lights...

The name of those water absorption thingies are "Kilrock slimline moisture trap" they are about the size of a house brick and have worked very well in my car...

Not needed to do the job myself on the Lex but an I6 motor is usually a breeze to do, I did my Jeep I6 a few months ago....You may as well change the valve seals while you are at it as it is so easy to do with the head on the bench...

I only drive my Lex every few weeks and so does suffer from condensation... Sometimes I even get a wet drip off the sun roof... I seem to have cured the issue by using a dehumidifying block that I bought from B&Q... Basically it is just a plastic tray with a dehumidifying material in it and it works perfectly.... I'll try to get the name of it next time I pop in

Try searching for automotive push fit rivets...

They will have a name but I don't know what it is....They are quite common in the automotive world and used for fixing all kinds of trim

Halfords.

Oil can with the wavy line under it is the oil level warning light...Check your dipstick!.....The red oil can light is your oil pressure warning light.

See!.....That's what happens when you stay up past your bed time.

Errm Knobby, you do know that Santa Claus is just like your four door supra and isn't real don't you? Now run along and off to bed with you or no more cutting and pasting from Google for you!

Still not got yourself a girlfriend then Knobby?

I too use a cheap ebay satnav as a speedo on my Jeep as the tyre and axle mods make the speedo a mile out....

I do believe that the US got manual IS300s.....But there is one guy here who will be able to say exactly how fast he thinks his IS300 is Alway take what a Septic says with a pinch of salt......

Well This evening I got round to fitting new discs and pads and everything is smooth again... The inside face of the discs were badly corroded and only the centre 25mm of friction surface of the disc was bright steel, the rest was corrosion.. I stripped and regreased the sliders and checked that the pistons were free and rebuilt the calipers and now it drives like new again... So if you have an issue with juddering brakes, have a look see at the inner surface of the disc..

Try getting the right cabin filter for the IS from ECP.......

It's funny that this topic should arise, my 05 IS is doing something similar....I recently had the wheels powder coated new tyres fitted and ballanced.... The hubs and wheels are perfect so I wonder of the wheels have been ballanced properly.....Will check when I get round to it as in this weather I spend most of my time driving the van or Boris.... Also it seems that I have a warped brake disc so will be looking out for some decent quality discs and pads...

An IS200 with engine probs is worth scrap value.... To damage the engine then the car has been badly abused or neglected.... Best that I could offer is a ton.