SpokesT

Well I've sorted it and the car passed its MoT! I pinched the nozzles from my wife's SORNed Nissan Almera, ground them down to fit through the holes in my Lexus bonnet, and swopped em for the colour matched blue ones on there. Full pressure achieved, so it's definitely something inside the jets as described by bullhorn. I can now take my time over unblocking the Lexus ones. Problem now is where to find some replacement plastic push fit studs to hold the bonnet insulation in place... Anyone know what they're actually called so I can google em?

Cheers for that, much appreciated

This might be the answer to my washer issues. Now if I could just get the jets/nozzles off...

I've even thought of simply replacing the nozzles using the ones off my wife's sorned Nissan, as a final test. But after inserting a piece of plastic under the nozzle to release the catch, I can't lift it out any further for fear of doing damage. Why is nothing easy for what appears to be so simple a job??

It's getting more mysterious. The flow from the drivers nozzle is now virtually zero, so I removed all the bonnet insulation to get at the pipe work. That was a pain as the plastic popper things all snapped off so I need to try and find some more from somewhere. I disconnected all the tubing and it all blows through quite okay. I can even blow into the last bit of pipe and out of the nozzle itself. And when I don't connect the pipe to the nozzle and press the washer button, it squirts out the pipe no problem. But as soon as I reconnect it to the nozzle, zero. Any ideas? I'm sure this will be an MoT fail and it's due in three weeks :-(

http://www.eurocarparts.com/universal-12volt-washer-pump

Meantime, I had a sneaky look on the euro car parts website and a universal washer pump is a fiver, presumably the clue is in the title and it will fit an IS200. It looks like it could be a push fit job too, assuming you can access the bottle and it's an external pump not an internal one.

Good calls. I've only had time to try the pin thing so far but it's made no diffs. I'll have a look at the plumbing under the bonnet insulation at the weekend. It's MoT time next month and I presume this will be a fail so I'll need to sort it pronto. Cheers for your time thus far.

Possibly answered elsewhere, apologies if so... My windscreen washer only seems to work on the passenger side. It's weak, but it hits mid screen no problems. On the driver's side it barely clears the wiper's resting position. It's the same pump providing a feed to both jets, so what could the issue be? Surely the vacuum in the plumbing would be balanced, so both sides being the same strength/weakness? I've made sure the jets aren't blocked at the nozzles. Any advice would be appreciated and thanks in advance for your time.

Have you done the job yet? Mine is so weak it barely wets the screen on the driver's side and I have the mot looming.

They've told me that a strip and clean is all that's needed, they do it, it passes the retest, I pay em. Not ideal but not sure what else to do as it's a trustworthy place as far as I'm concerned.

Last time I asked him to show me the imbalance. He showed me while it was on the rolling road. I can't remember the figures now but it was outside the accepted tolerance. Yet there has never been any kind of pulling to one side or the other under braking.

My IS200 recently failed (as usual) it's mot on front brake imbalance. Every year this happens, necessitating a strip and clean of the brakes by the same guy testing the car. I trust him, he's been doing all our vehicles for years, and he tells me he has three other IS200s on his books with the same annual issue. Anyone else have this happen? And if so what can I do to save myself £80 every year? I only do about 6k miles per year in it.

I went back earlier but the car guy had already left. The house guy had a look and spotted that there is a noticeable but slight central channel cut into the original key that has not been put into the new key that doesn't work. I'm hoping that's all that is now needed to be added. I'll let you know if it is so you have some idea as to the answer to your query.

Mines a 52 plate with 72k on the clock. I drove an X5 thinking it would be the bees knees but it was ******* in comparison and it was nice getting back into my own car. Chalk and cheese I know but I didn't expect the big Beemer to feel like I was driving a truck!

If anyone knows why it would be handy to know so I can go back to him with some knowledge. I already went back and he said the length has nothing to do with it. He then 'recut it' although it looks no different. It still don't work.

I didn't realise there were different lengths. I bought a blank which when it arrived was noticeably longer by several mm. I thought the guy at the locksmiths would cut it to length. He didn't. I paid him £25 to cut it from my own key and although it goes I to the barrel ok, it sticks out a lot. And more importantly it won't turn, not one jot. Surely the transponder will red the chip in the key from 3-4mm away which is how much it's sticking out? But in a nutshell, it don't work.

I chopped my 52 plate Mini Cooper in for my 52 plate IS200 six years ago and didn't modify my driving style and almost fainted at the fuel economy it gave me. I then taught myself to drive it in a reserved manner around town and only open it up properly on the open road and it gave me 10mpg more. On a run from the south coast up to Brum to see me mom I can get there and back on a tankful which is a gnats ball hair under 400 miles.

Tony's WIM settings were published on here somewhere, I downloaded em ages ago as a word file, but dunno where they are now, soz

Shaking my head at the notion that it was the fault of the police for chasing a car being driven by a scumbag who had nicked it. You sure it wasn't the fault of the blonde woman with big boobs who the thief looked at as he entered the road, so losing concentration momentarily? Or the milkman who decided to do an early delivery and made the thief steer round him too fast? ****. No wonder this country is up the Swanee. Tell you what, maybe it was my fault for not being there and seeing the thief stealing the car and shouting 'Stop! thief' thereby deterring him. Sue me!

I had an issue with my battery yesterday which led to me sticking it on the Optimate overnight. It's now fully charged but the Optimate is giving me the 'weak' led which makes me think the battery is gunna need replacing. I suspect it's the original factory fitted one, on my 52 plate IS200, so I suoppose it's had a good innings as they say. There are lots of different prices coming up on the net, does anyone have any particular battery I should avoid if I am after longevity, or will anything fit the bill as long aas it's the correct fitment? I'm not particularly flush right now as I've just had the cambelt done, taxed it and have the mot being done tomorrow, so any savings will be welcomed - without buying the cheapest one and having to replace it again in a year's time, obviously. Any suggestions etc?

Cheers guys, I go up to Brum fairly often as I am a Bluenose and have lots of family there, I'll give them a nudge and see what's what.

Why would I not buy this one though? £200 all in. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LEXUS-IS200-2-0-TIMING-BELT-KIT-TENSIONER-WATER-PUMP-/300372587927?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item45ef99f597

I need to sort out the timing belt on my 53k mile 52plate IS200. Ebay reveals timing belt kits consisting of belt, tensioner, idler and water pump for around £200. I went to Yeomans Toyota, the main dealer in Eastbourne, to see how much more I'd have to pay for genuine branded products (presumably), and was given a quote that went like this when I asked for the price of the necessary gubbins for the job: Idler £64.59 Drive pump £33.92 Tensioner £61.00 Timing Belt £29.97 Water pump £111.66 VAT inclusive total price of £360.37 I was also asked if I wanted a price for labour, but I couldn't reply for laughing so much... Or is it me being unreasonable? What say ye?

Ohhhhhhhhh yesssss! cheers mate