topshotta112

Thanks for all the replies.

After all that I decided not to use the car for the journey.

Lucky thing cos when the garage replaced the tensionr, they found two small cracks in the old one and a lot of play in the idler.

All in all parts cost £146 from Lexus Ellesmere Port and £60 labour.

I bought my 2000 lexus IS200 with 98,000 miles on the clock.

It's history showed a cambelt change at 90,000...happy days.

Recently a mate of mines alpha blew up after the cambelt snapped, despite it being changed 20,000 miles prior. It turns out that altough his cambelt was changed, the tensioners weren't... as a result, they seized and his engine met an untimely end.

This got me thinking, so I rang the garage that carried out the cambelt change on my lex. To my horror, they told me that only the cambelt was changed and not the tensioners.

The cars now on 110,000 miles and I'm scared to death in case the tensioners seize up. It's on my list to get done, but I've got to make a 300 mile trip this week without fail.

Is this a safe idea??? There's no noise or obvious signs that there are any probems in there.

Where's the best place to order the parts from, and which parts would you recommend get changed?

Does anyone have an is200 rear bumper for sale?

I need one desperately, ideally in black (although any other colour will do), and ideally in good condition....

let me know if you do

DO IT MAN, CHROME LOOKS GOOD.

I'VE JUST LINKED SOME 18 INCH CHROME KATANA SPAZIOS AND THEY LOOK STATIC ON A BLACK 200.

RED LOOKS HEAVY BLOOD

looks nice tho

THE ACTUAL MESH SECTION IS BLACK, THE OUTER FRAME COMES PRE PAINTED TO MATCH CAR COLOUR. GIVE YOUR LOCAL A RING, SURE THEY DO EM IN ICE

GRILLE'S ARE £36 PRE PAINTED FROM LEXUS DEALER

could be an earthing problem.

if you know anyone with a diagnostics kit then you can be certain what the problem is.

I had a problem on an alfa 156 similar which turned out to be a faulty signal from the crank sensor.

Is it turnin over and not startin or is there no power to the starter whatsoever?

i've had the same problem...

park the missus' car on a main road and had the windscreen cracked before now...and the wing mirror.

usually p1ssheads!!!!

feel for you mate

yu know what, looking at the pic again, i'm startin to feel them.

they do look heavy on the lex

I had a 156 1.8 twin spark before getting the lex, and it turned out to be a moneypit!!

dunno whether that's a common factor with alfas, but it certainly put me off owning another one. They also don't tend to hold their money very well, and considering they're in the same price range as lexus when new, they nowhere near get as much second hand.

I wouldn't worry too much about the mileage thing. As long as the price is right and the car seems straight.

Personally though I wouldn't go alfa, but then i'm biased from a past experience.

i like them, but gotta say i prefer them on bm's so dunno whether they'd look outta place on a lex.

you can open the lights up and paint them, have a look

http://tunedparts.net/forum/viewtopic.php?...665193127a764e3

just out of interest dan, where have you seen the graphite add on... i'm thinking of painting my back lights, just plucking up the courage get me

sounds like an admin error... 367,000 in 5 years??? less miles to the moon

Only problem you might have is that this could creep up again when you come to sell it, and that could give you problems getting it explained etc.

I'd seriously get it checked out, you don't wanna buy a dud, but It does sound like there must e an error.

i KNOW EACTLY WHAT YOU'RE ON ABOUT, I'VE NOTICED IT TOO. THE REAR LIGHTS AND BRAKE LIGHTS ON MINE RUN OFF A SINGLE DUAL BULB.

ON MY BACK LIGHTS, THE RED CIRCLUAR LIGHT LIGHTS UP COMPLETELY WHEN THE LIGHTS ARE TURNED ON. WHEN I BRAKE, IT GLOWS BRIGHTER.

I'VE SEEN A COUPLE OF NEWER IS200'S WITH A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT SET UP. INSTEAD OF THE WHOLE LIGHT LIGHTING UP, ONLY A RING AROUND THE OUTSIDE GLOWS RED WHEN THE LIGHTS ARE ON. WHEN BRAKING THE CENTRE OF THE LIGHT GLOWS BRIGHTLY.

WHEN TURNED OF, THEY LOOK IDENTICAL TO MY BACK LIGHTS.

DUNNO WHETHER I'M IMAGINING IT, BUT I SUSPECT IT MUST BE A FEATURE ON LATER IS200'S, IE THEY MUST RUN A SEAPARATE LIGHT AND BRAKE BULB INSTEAD OF A DUAL BULB.

HOPE THAT MAKES SENSE?? :duh:

i HAD THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM WITH A BMW COMPACT ONCE, AND THAT CAME ABOUT AFTER I HAD MINTEX PADS FITTED.

I JUST PUT UP WITH THE NOISE AND EVENTUALLY SOLD THE CAR ON.

DUNNO WHETHER IT WOULD BE WORTH GETTING THEM OFF AND GIVING THEM A CLEAN, MAKING SURE THERE ANY NO TINY STONES CAUGHT IN?

i KNOW HOW YOU FEEL THOUGH IT WAS BLOODY ANNOYING AND EMBARRASSING EVERYTIME I CAME TO A STOP IN THE CITY CENTRE.

i think you're right dan i'll stik to the 30, don't wanna mess things up.

wheels look heavy you'll have to post pics when they're on.

Eibach are -30mm, PI are -35mm (springs) if you want any lower you are in "coilover land". Wouldn't go more than -50mm as that is about as low as you can go and still recover the geometry to something sensible.

thanks for that mac, i think i'll stick to springs, 30mm eibachs sound good

ouch 26 sheets sound pricy... :winky:

the eBay Autoglym looks pretty good deal.

wheels look nice mate.

in the same position myself, got some 18's on order and want to get the car lowered but I don't how much to go for... was thinkin 40mm....

to be fair that's quite a good point... you can pick up decent models for the 5k region, and if you've got a litle more to spend you're laughing.

So unless it really is cheap (and safe), you may be better getting an untouched model.

I think I'm right when I say that the categories only apply to write off cars.

So for example if you bump and the insurance company refuse to repair it, then it will be written off and given the appropriate category.

If you were really worried the best thing to do would be to HPI it, but I'mpretty sure that if they haven't written it off, it won't be regsitered. I could be wrong vbut that's the way I understand it.

Does anyone know where I can get hold of an IS200 dash tray?

Not the standard flat felt one, but the one with the lid/compartment tray?

Another thing, do lexus do an armrest for the IS200, and if so where would be the best place to get one?