kev dood

Sure will do and thanks. I guess not many people are going to buy a car like this thinking its a cheap £1k runaround for a year as the mpg on them isnt fantastic compared to an old Ford Focus etc. Hopefully it will go to someone who appreciates what they are and enjoy what even now is a well spec'd car which is lovely and smooth to drive. If I manage to visit them for the weekend and its dry to get some pics I will post them up so you can see it.

Hi All, Sorry for the late replies but life is a bit hectic atm with job changes and Xmas etc. That is not my fathers car, though is exceptionally similar. This is older (R reg) and my fathers is a V-reg. Given I do not live local to him and what with the weather etc I have not had a chance to take any pics of his car atm so apologies for that. I guess my initial posting was to try to gauge a rough idea of the typical values for these cars prior to it being listed probably around Easter time maybe - purely driven by my availability to clean/prep/photo and create any advert! That R-reg car is interesting and is certainly in amazing condition - obviously been prepped well my a dealer too. I guess for a dealer price with their margin, possibly warranty etc maybe thats a fair price though I would consider it high. I'd love to know others thoughts on this? My fathers is in very similar condition but will admit the wheels have some of the typical corrsion on that that it seems Lexus suffer from so commonly (my IS200 was just as bad though luckily Lexus swapped them all). From memory, his does have a couple of minor scratches on the bumper but nothing major and given its a 24yr old car now I guess to be expected. But it has never been in any accident, seen any paint etc or had any major issues (or minor come to think of it). Its just a good honest clean car, 1 owner who got it when he retired and coveted ever since!

Yes for sure the planned ULEX expansion in London will hurt a lot of people with older cars like this. It is a shame as they are amazing cars to drive and own, just not in London any more. I wonder how the 9.5m people will all be able to afford to change to a newer car at £40k+ though have heard many London Boroughs are planning on delaying the rollout. Who knows. For anyone outside of London however they are a steal of a car given the spec levels and such a smooth engine.

Hi All, Wow its been a long time since I have been on here but it's great to be back! This time, my father is looking to sell his single owner GS300 SE and before I create a for sale post I was wondering what the typical values are that they go for these days? The car is 1 owner from new, approx 72k miles, metallic dark green (is that Jade green?), auto, cream leather (no rips or tears), always garaged and has full service history as well as having a recent cam chain change, service and new MOT. The car is fully standard and all of the electrics etc fully work. Being an old dodery chap he has always driven it like a limo driver and it has never been trashed or mistreated, it just rarely gets used for much as they get older and have a second car which is their daily driver. When I am next up there (car is SE London/NW Kent) I shall get some pictures for anyone who may be interested and also when I create a for sale post. These really are lovely comfy full spec cars and he would love to keep it but with the use it gets as they get old it is time to let it go.

I got my rears from them - as said, they KYB ones are the original OEM Lexus fit ones, just stamped as Lexus.

I had the same issue. I really liked the SP9000 Sport L versions. Lasted well. After much research I went for the Dunlop Maxx TT and they are excellent. Well worth a try.

The main issue with the headlights is that the front ones (not rear also) will come on and you can't turn them off. Only way is to take out the relay under the bonnet. I think from memory its the blue one - standing facing front of car is under the plastic cover on the left rear - near battery. Culprit is water running down the cable harness behind the drivers side kick penal which comes off fairly easily. Plastic nut at back end near accelerator pedal. The unclip the bottom door seal trip and it will pull out towards the back of the car. There is (I think) a grey connector towards the back of the main relay control board which is the culprit. If its not grey then its blue!! Pull it out and check connector pins etc for water. Also see if you can look into connector it plugs into. If there is, dry it out with kitchen towel and a hairdryer. If you are lucky, then this will cure it and once windscreen sorted you will be fine. If not, then relay is not cheap (if its knackered - which is probably rare) or worse, the main control board is knackered which is £500+!! Other common water faults from leaky screen is the alarm/locking ECU acting odd and either being very slow at locking, or not disabling the alarm when it does unlock. Even when put key in and start the car it will go off until times out (fairly quick). All the dash gauges can also start playing up and not working, or lights flashing at you when shouldn't. An E can appear where the outside temp gauge is. On mine, I had all of that, but couldn't work out where the water was coming in from for the alarm/dash issues. But, after disconnecting the batteryh overnight which will reset the ECUs it was all fine. Fingers crossed there has been no permenant damage - I dont think so. The other area worth checking is that there are no damp leaves under the back of the bonnet where the air vent intakes are. That can often be a cause in other cars.

Pilkington ones say it on the bottom edge on drivers side I think. OE ones don't have anything on that I could find. Just heard a lot about there being a design fault on the Pilkington ones where the heater element cable comes off meaning you can never get a good seal. Dunno if they have rectified it, but as I had issues with mine, I guessed mine wasn't one of those and therefore wanted it changed. Autoglass seemed quite good about it though. They said if any of the electronics got fried they would pay to get it fixed, but my point was, I could take it to Lexus and get them to fault find etc and knowing my luck Autoglass would contend it when faced with a massive repair bill and then I would get lumbered. Guy understood my postion. I think they are well aware of this issue to thought better err on the side of caution.

As per many others on here, I have had the usual issues following a windscreen replacement by Autoglass a few years back. I initially just had the front headlights coming on (due to water leaking down into the main relay control board) but a few years later, this then got worse when the alarm/locking started to play up then the gauges and dash electronics also. So, after speaking to Lexus Reading when I picked my car up for a service, I called Autoglass head office mentioning the issue and saying I wanted the screen changed for a Lexus OE one. CHeaper to do this then for me to get them to pay for Lexus to fault find and the replace the electronics should it all go wrong! After a few weeks, I managed to get the screen changed for a Lexus one (apparently! though it doesn't look the same as my orig 2001 screen - guess Lexus changed it slightly). I am hoping this has now cured my woes, but for anyone else, its definately worth following this up and getting yours changed, otherwise you could be in for a massive bill!

Car/year: IS200 2001 Xreg Date Windscreen replaced: Oct 2006 Company who replaced screen: Autoglass Basingstoke - fitted a Pilkington screen Date fault developted(First noticed): Jan 2007 List of Faults: Initially - Lights turning on when igntion is off and lights are set to off - Autoglass checked screen and found no issues. 2010 - Fuel, MPG, collant guages failed to work when car was running, Fuel empty light on gauge failing to work, E flasing on outside temp gauge. Alarm failed to disarm leading to setting off when opening door. Current state: After getting back in touch with Autoglass and complaining etc with some info from LOC and Lexus Reading, I asked and got a replacement Lexus OE screen which should curfe the issues. Cost to date (not inc orginal screen/excess)[b/] £0 Cost reclaimed and from whom (if any)[b/] Any further relevant info: Apparently the Pilkington screens do not seal properly around the heater cable - common issue. Lexus say they never put in a screen other that the original Lexus ones due to this issue and have never seen a failure. They also said that Autoglass head office should be aware of this issue as they have contacted them about this and to call head office to get it sorted.

Check the rear wells in the boot. The sunroof drains run into there I think and there is a little drain hole/pipe that can get bunged with dirt. It does sound like there is a minor leak somewhere to get that much condensation. You ever had a windscreen replaced?

Ormi - do you know if an airbag light being on or an ABS light on would be an MOT failure? cheers

I thought a few people had experienced knocking from the pads when changed to Mintex. Seems they may be a slightly smaller pad maybe?

dunno if it would make a really loud bang noise, but you can sometimes here a clunk which is the pads moving in the caliper housing if the shims that go on the back of the pads are missing. Are the pads original OEM ones or aftermaket? Guess they are new if the discs have been changed? Other thing to check is the front ball joints as they can bang.

clutch judder is a pain, but then its so common and can be throughout the life of the car, so am not sure if its a walk away thing or not. Also, check radio works - try inserting all 6 CD's from fresh, playing and ejecting (removing fully) then reinserting. Error 3 is common issue as well as missfeeding. Check clip is present for front drivers car mat - if there is one - this was an original recall issue on the earlier cars due to the good old Toyota accelerator sticking due to slipping car mat issue! When will they learn! Check inner left well in the boot for signs of water - apparently there is a drain for the sunroof in there which can get blocked and the boot gets wet. Check full size alloy spare is present - they all came with one. Not all IS200's had isofix, so if this is important, check in the rear seat gaps - it cannot be retro fitted. Think it was standard from Sept 2001. There is also a current recall on the IS200 from 2003 I think regarding the brake cylinder or something. Check if original windscreen is fitted or if its a Pilkington replacement - they have a common problem with leaking around the heater cable from the bottom part of the screen and can fry the main relay/control board if you are unlucky - over £500 to replace! Pilkington/AutoGlass should be aware of the issue but I doubt they have done anything about it other than be careful when fitting. Just something to be aware of - you can check under the drivers side corner of the dash for signs of water - or ask the owner if he has ever had issues with the front lights being left one and not turning off - or with locking/alarm functions. IS200 exhaust system is stainless steel but they are starting to get a little old now so might be worth checking the condition. Check braking in a straight line as the frontg calipers sliding pins and lower pistons have a nasty habit of siezing. Listen out for a scraping noise from the rear brakes - if had newish rear discs, as the commonised the parts and the inner lip rubs on the inner backing plate - Lexus rectification - grind it back! Think spark plugs are 100k lifespan so if mileage higher than this then check they have been renewed. (denso iridium) Inner tyre wear is common and to some extent expected of a car with wide tyres and from camber - but it shoudl NOT be excessive if tyres are not that high mileage. Front ball joints used to go a lot, as did water pumps sometimes. Check cambelt as idler roller used to push the belt onto the cover and wear it down. Don't worry about the fact that all the nuts/bolt heads etc are rusty to hell - that seems normal for Lexus! Grrr.

update - changed the rear anti roll bar bushes as only cheap, but I still have the creaking and its driving me nuts! I was thinking of disconnecting the drop links and seeing if I still get the creaking sound, to try and isolate where is might be coming from. I am fairly sure its a rubber bush somewhere, but not sure which one!! Its a little odd how its both sides though and they both started out the blue at the same time! Any more clues anyone? Are rear wishbone bushes expensive? Not sure what else it could be really?! Seems worse when I reverse it onto the driveway! I guess if I jack up a side at the time and then try each wheel independantly then it might help.

cheers, I was beginning to think no one was gonna reply! Thought there would be loads of people that would be able to repair these as these radios have such common problems.

Does anyone know anywhere that repairs the IS200 headunits? Mine doesn't throw up the error3 but it doesn't feed the CD in properly, actually goes in too far so it misses the central bit that goes into the centre hole to spin the disk. Therefore you get this nasty spinning/clicking noise and then the disk won't come out. I don't want to fit a different unit, so ideally would like to repair it, but I am guessing it might cost too much too! Does Lexus do it? As this is a common fault (as is the error3), will Lexus UK do anything about this - has anyone tried? I think mine is a 13903 (2001 X-reg) CD at top, if I get a second hand one, does it need to be the same number unit?

not from Basingstoke they probably won't!! :) Plus would rather take it up there myself - parents live near there so can stay up there.

I had no real problems putting all the stuff in the boot when my lad was a baby. Had a bugaboo where the wheels can be removed and all packed in ok. Yes it is a small boot and a bit tight and the rear seats are a pain to get a car seat for unless you have isofix. But its doable for a single child. My problem is when you have another, for me being 6ft3, I cannot fit my lads seat behind my seat and the other would be taken up by the new baby seat!! Ho hum. Just be careful when getting car seats fitted as there are very few that fit properly without buckle crunch etc.

Ah, thats who I use. Kevin is the guy who runs it along with the other guys there - all ex Lexus/Toyota Bromley. As you say, I want someone I feel I can trust and it appears these guys are just that. Not always the cheapest, but they do a good job. I am overdue on a service there actually, but am finding it hard to get the time to take the car up there with work etc!!

That would be the one termed bushing then in this diagram?

Belt wise, Lexus do a cambelt kit. If you do a search on here there is plenty of info on timing belt posts which are useful. Lexus Birmingham usually sell the kit on ebay.

Replacing the shocks will probably give you little benefit unless its starting to get a bit bouncy or you have a leaky shock. The springs are probably a bit tired though at this mileage so you could do them instead?? I read on here a while ago that as well as timing belt, do the idler and tensioner as well as some other belt of something somewhere whilst down there. Plus some do the water pump while you have everything off. Thats up to you I guess as all adds cost and if you haven't had the problem yet the...... Exhausrt is stainless so should last a long time. I wouldn't go searching for jobs and spending money where you don't need to though. Main things will be bushes etc or possible worn ball joints which are things to look out for rather than change needlessly.

I would echo the oil point - mine never uses the stuff. Unlike BMWs that do about 1ltr per 1000 miles. Also, regarding the Dunlop SP9000 Sport tyres. They are excellent for wear, btu as you say, a little noisy. Potenzas are good, but might not last as long. As you cannot get the SP9000 Sport Lexus versions, try the Dunlop Maxx TT's which are excellent. Much quieter and loads of grip. Not cheap, but if you liked the SP9000s then they are the best replacement.