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Skraggy_uk

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Everything posted by Skraggy_uk

  1. Cheers. I'll get Charlesworth to look into it when I next book in, then get the parts and make a trip over for fitting. MOT man was happy with it not being dangerous, and the feel hasn't changed much in the last year.
  2. I noticed when doing the test they were paying a lot of attention to the view of the rack from above when doing the lock to lock test. Then spending plenty of time with the pry bar when under it. I asked what he had found and he said when the steering was turned the rack moved a lot on the big central bush (Same as an older jag he said), but when her prodded around from the underside, he couldn't find any splits or damage or signs or it being overly worn. I have noticed that sometimes the steering seems a little vague, and follows the truck ruts in lane 1, but I just put it down to wide tyres, and when turning with hard lock at low speeds, I get a clunking clumping twitch through the wheel which I though would be failed trackrod end, but maybe it is the rack bush. Don't suppose there is a poly/uprated option for this bush. Any idea what the part looks like? I'm due a service in the next few months, so I'll get Charlesworths to have a look at it when it is in. Still I have another years ticket and it didn't overly concern them and they are good garage. Cheers all.
  3. I tell you what, even though the hook part of the clip breaks, the rest of it is pretty bombproof. I needed a very large screwdriver and a pair of plier to extract the remains after the bolt was out. When someone said snap the old one out, they were right. It look a lot of brute force and came out in two pieces very quickly after not budging for ages. but the new one clipped in as easy as anything.
  4. My 2001 toploader is fubared too. Wether it is genuine discs, cleaner discs, err1. I believe that is cold/damp related but I get it in the middle of summer.
  5. The seller I linked to got back to me while the forum was in DB maintenance. So I stuck an order in. Since then I found another about £1 dearer but £2 cheaper on postage. Oh well. Hopefully should have it before weekend and be perfect again. If MOT goes OK on Saturday, I might treat my toy to some ICE, and have a CD player that actually works instead of giving ERR1 whatever kind of disc is installed.
  6. Mine opens pretty much fully each time, except the first time on a cold day or if it hasn't been opened for a few day. I suspect dirty sticky boot seals because after the seal is broken the first time it pops up fine. Might need to try some silicon spray to clean the rubber.
  7. Actually, I think I may have found one. On the bay of shiny toys. Just checking with the seller to make sure there is only one kind. But if you took the time to read my post, thanks and sorry.
  8. Don't suppose anyone knows where I might get one, or even if Lexus still can supply them? It is on a Y plate IS200 if they changed with any years. The assembly looks to be moulded plastic held on by one bolt. Currently I have the bonnet prop retained by a twistee tie wrap that is used on electrical goods when they are packed. Works but looks messy so want to get it fixed ASAP. Last thing I need is more cost when the MOT is due this week and I can't tell from looking, whether it is a crack in the windscreen running out of a repaired stone chip, or whether it is a scratch caused by grit getting stuck in the remains of the chip and being scraped up by the wipers. Cheers guys.
  9. They officially were only available on Pimp and Drug Dealer spec cars, although some people unofficially fitted them to back street pub landlord spec cars to try and make the owners look more street. Look out for Leopard skin print covers on the seats instead of leather or alcantera. It was an optional and very expensive "taste" pack option.
  10. Just a little update. Old battery off, 10 minutes later, new battery on. Bingo job jobbed. Car started, locks still working and radio quickly retuned.
  11. Magic, job tomorrow then is changing the battery. Then it is all good until the next service.
  12. When I was in getting a cam belt change at Charlesworths, they mentioned the battery was showing signs of failing. Left it a month or so, and had a couple of incidences where it will crank slower and only just catch then be fine for a week, so I picked up a new battery. Before I pull the old one, is the radio coded? I have "Lexus Audio Security" stickers in the windows. Just a look would have it, the handbook isn't with the rest of the paperwork, so I can't even check what the code is if it has one. If I'm just changing the battery do I need to do anything afterwards like reprogramming the keys? I'm not pulling the old one until I know, or have to, but I don't want to be driving round with a dead weight in the boot either. Cheers guys
  13. Bit of a thread resurection, I wanted to get my cambelt service and road tax out of the way. That is done now which starts me on the next 6 months planning to save for something decent. Still can't decide, but the missus has just ordered a Navigo V2+ sat nav from ebuyer. Apparently the turbodog nav software is crap, but tomtom can be installed as can iGo and it features a media player, bluetooth and an fm transmitter to allow you to tune to a free frequency. Might be a decent choice for £60 if it works for her, even though I have TomTom, Garmin XT and iGo 8 on the phone with built in GPS.
  14. Drives nice now, and they even did me a favour. Said full service, cambelt kit etc may cost upto £500 depending on if plugs needed doing. Total bill £299. Plugs were needed, but diff fluid and transmission fluid all good, so weren't needed. So, oil, filter, plugs, cambelt, tensioner and idler and a loan car. Sounds good to me.
  15. Going into Charlesworths tomorrow for some TLC and a lot of love. Cambelt was done in 2003 at 42k miles. So that is getting done. It has full service history upto 2007, then an oil/filters by the same company I got it off, but only drove about 4000miles. Then I bought it at 80k and have put on another 6k, so big service time. And then I need to check the paperwork tonight to see if/when the plugs were changed, and budget for those just in case. Still it will be worth it. Apart from the CD player being disappointing, giving error 1 randomly when playing ripped discs, even though my much older LS400/Celsior played them without bother.
  16. I have actually been looking at them. DVDs full of MP3s rather than video would be nice but not essential. It would just be a gimic. Don't suppose you can change the backlight to red/orange as an option can you. Or do I need to redo the dash. ;)
  17. Cheers Redz, I know I could go cheaper on the double din, but I mentioned budget chinese type stuff on here, the reaction I got was probably worse then if I declared sheep love. TBH, running a parrot through the amp was probably my biggest worry doing it that way.
  18. Might just need to nip into my local dealer then. Just down the road.
  19. Thanks guys, What is dust like on 1144 compound Mintex pads, and EBC Reds? Seriously, with the standard toyota pads on my old GT4 the wheels were black a couple of days after washing, and thick with dust after a month. The Akebonos which I believe are OEM pads for Lexus and Toyota sporty models outside of Europe with the ceramic compound really cut the dust down to minimum, to the point that after a month between washes, there looked to be as much normal road dust on the car as on the wheels. Is there an EBC red ceramic for the IS? I've heard good things about them on heavier cars, and lets face it, the IS is no lightweight. I'm not interested in "track only" type pads that don't work until hot, or ones that work nicely when you are running big power. Akebonos are already bedded in and pre-heated before they are packed, so they worked hard out of the box. Engine wise I'm keeping it standard until I have a nice sorted chassis. That means brakes first (basically service items), then suspension as it wears (Probably go for budget coilover to keep travel while lowering the CoG slightly), then ARBs and finally bushes. Car has done 85k, and everything bar the tyres, pads and calipers is oringal according to the paperwork with it. I got the supplying garage to change the calipers as there was major binding, but now under moderate braking there is a little warp in the disc. No braking is no binding, heavy braking is smooth, but under moderate I can feel the pulse/wobble so when they wear I'll probably source a pair of Brembo grooved iron discs for the front. Again from my GT4 experiences, I had DBA (based on Brembo blanks) vented grooved on the front, and solid grooved on the rear. Really tightened braking along with the ceramic pads, no fade, no warm up, no bed in. I was amazed.
  20. OK, I have an IS200 SE no nav 2001 with top load cd. I'm getting error 1 on burned disks and most of my current music collection is either vinyl or mp3/download audio, which means burned discs. I don't own an iPod I have an 8gig Samsung Omnia with a 16gig card that does A2DP. Ideally what I would like to do is have the option to either play off the phone over bluetooth, and do calls through the speakers on handsfree, or use a big semi permanently fitted USB stick (hidden away, but taken out to change tracks), and maybe later add an external dab tuner through the grom line in cable. I'm thinking Grom USB cable adaptor into the external changer socket for the USB/AUX connector and a decent bluetooth handsfree like a Parrot with the relevant patch cable to go from Lexus connector -> ISO -> Parrot -> ISO -> Lexus connector. But as it is an SE I have the amp, so can a parrot go through the amp OK without damaging anything. Does it work out cheaper to do it this way instead of getting a new 2 din headunit with bluetooth, fascia adaptor, amp bypass cable. I imagine that there is similar amount of work in both, because while swapping out for the new double din means pulling the glove box and trim to get to the amp, there is only one cable to fit, and the unit needs to come out to fit a parrot kit and hide the Grom unit anyway. Anyone got a cleaner simpler solution for adding to the existing system other than a cassette adaptor because I quite like the sound of the original system when the CD player works, but to get Absolute Radio I'm stuck with AM. Cheers all.
  21. I had a Whiteline ARB fitted to my old GT4. Firstly, the further from the ends the hole is, the stiff the bar will work because you are shortening the leverage. Also, one thing to think about as well is, the uprated bar might be stiffer on the softest setting than original bar might be at the fixed setting. Normally you will get a clue by comparing the thicknesses of the two bars. For what it is worth, stiffening the rear end on my old Celica GT4 turned it from being understeering to being balanced and loaded toward oversteer without actually breaking away but that was due to awesomeness of the grip if the 4wd and sticky tyres.
  22. I've used Akebono ceramic pads on a Celica GT4 I had in the past. Sadly Akebonos aren't available in the this country, but they are in the US. The US don't get the IS200 only the 300. Are the brakes the same? Why do I want non e marked technically illegal pads? Because even with the cost of shipping and if it gets customs busted, they still work out cheaper thanthe best decent european pads. Add to the fact that they appear almost dustless and last longer, yet give better braking from the off, and don't fade works for me. I know I can get them from Olympic online as I've ordered from them before, and their delivery is good, but I just want to make sure they fit before I order as they are only cheaper if they fit. So are the two models the same brake wise?
  23. Wozza, I'm not arguing with your experience or your work on the fascia. Not everyone is going to be that able though. I know from experience of trying to fabricate a carpc facia for my old Celica GT4. I would love something like that Pioneer 2 din, and I expect it would sound better than a cheapy, but when a stereo costs close to or the same as a years insurance it is probably getting a bit rich for me. Most of the time I would be listening fm or MP3 and you don't get serious quality from either. The only feature that I would consider spending more than average is decent DAB. I'll be honest about something now. The cheapest heaunit I've ever bought, and also the best sounding, out of Philips/VDO, Pro-Plus sound, Goodmans, Blaupunkt, Pioneer (usually lowish end ones just to get sound into a radioless banger I had just bought) was a Silverlink MP3/WMA/CD/USB/SDCard Bluetooth, single din. All that was was £65 for a Lidl special German branded product made in china. They are basically a house brand for Lidl like Tevion is for Aldi. I bought it because a) The old radio in the car was failing and B) the idea of not wearing a borg tooth earpiece in the price was attractive, and my phone had a lot of music on it. It worked, and people who heard it were amazed at the quality for the money and I still have it in the box upstairs because I pulled it and put the slightly faulty one back in. The bluetooth was that good that some people didn't even realise I was in the car until I paused while manouvering, and I could pick up TAs from Sheffield and Nottingham and Birmingham on BBC, compared to the previous much more expensive headunit that was fitted. The FM quality was exceptionally good too. And it looks fairly sedate in black and the removable front panel is actually made of metal too, not cheap plastic. If I was going to swap out I might consider putting that in as temporary measure it was that good, but I would rather try to get the original reading cds again (error 1). I've heard cleaning the lens can help, but this one won't even read the cleaning CD, and a Grom cable wouldn't help in my case, as while my phone has 16gig of MP3s on it isn't an iPhone so I'm not sure if it will be readable as a hdd, so I would probably end up needing a parrot handsfree to do A2DP to access that music.
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