reganlives

great news mate. I love it when a car sails through its mot. Mine was so perfect the mot tester was a bit shocked I think lol

Cool mate...u've put my mind at rest already. :) btw, it hasnt been reset yet mate, that'll be done when I change the air filter on it later in the month so that should help. I think most of the crap in the system musta be expelled by now anyway from the motorway driving I've done. When I was on the motorway I kept it at 60mph with the cruise control on and it was an enjoyable drive. I used to always do 70 on the motorway but for quite some time now have been doing 60 as I noticed when I was driving the civic it made a big difference in fuel consumption so have kinda stuck to my ways now lol. roughly how many pounds worth of petrol will fill up quarter of the tank anyway? btw...how on earth did u manage only 17miles off a quarter tank?! thats mental!

yup it is 2D...like I just got it and all exciting again. Its nice to have a car which is so relaxing to drive yet with so much equipment and a decent amount of power. One thing tho....It bloody drinks! lol. I put redex in on monday after I had sorted the mot and rd tax out and got her fully serviced then full tanked her but had a little bit of fun on and off on monday then tuesday went to uni but took it easy and the petrol needle has dropped just below the first quarter mark after only 100miles! I still need to change the air filter on it and then I'll reset the ecu but i'm guessing that as this is the first full tank its had in god knows how long its gonna drink it a bit quicker anyway especially with the redex in there cleaning the fuel system out. When I got the car it had about half a tank of petrol but over the times where I've left it running to try and charge the battery after jump starting it early on etc it drank most of that but left me with a decent amount to do all the missions to get her road legal on monday. I know the IS200 isnt built for economy so before anyone gives me a roasting lol..and I am moving up from a 1.4 Civic so am bound to notice the difference in fuel consumption but once I've gone through the first full tank and changed the air filter for a K&N and reset the ecu then can I expect a little better economy?

their prices are a lot higher than other places mate. many people on here have got the kits for around £50 and not had any problems.

was it a company trading as quality car parts on ebay by any chance mate? they're sure start batteries ltd in failsworth manchester and they've got the best price on plugs and pads at the moment. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LEXUS-IS200-IRIDIUM-...A1%7C240%3A1318

Is it an easy diy job to replace the speed sensor tho? are the speed sensors and abs sensors the same?

have u got any pics of the sensor mate as I need to have a look at mine. is it the speed sensor that u changed?

I know that quite a few people on here have recommended the seller diane-shop on ebay for HID's but seeing as they come from china did anyone get charged import duty of any sort and if so how much?

I'm so happy that its on the road at last I just dont know what to say lol. Its been one hell of a project but I've got there in the end. As for the traction control, if its off when the light is flashing I better get onto that pronto as dont want the back end going out on me. I've already been taking everyones advice of using snow mode tho, it seems to reduce the power quite a lot but helps with moving off smoother as well. Loved the drive to uni today on the motorway and made use of the cruise control too.

Thought so after having a look on toyodiy.com. Think I'll keep my eyes peeled for one at any breakers.

Is there meant to be a cover under the engine on my car as I aint got one. If so where could I get one from and is it difficult to fit?

Yes everyone my car is finally on the road as of yesterday! Its fully road legal, taxed insured and mot'd and I'm loving it! Thats the reason I wasnt online yesterday lol. Got up early in the morning and took the car for its mot and the guy at the garage said that lexus's rarely fail the mot and they're solid cars. He checked it over very thoroughly and couldnt find any issues at all and said its a minter and it passed with flying colours :D When he'd done most of the mot only the emissions test remained and he said that the car was so perfect that its only taken 25mins to do most of the test when normally when up to that point it would take 45mins on any other car and said he was going for a brew lol. What took me by surprise is that although the IS200 has high emissions was the way at which it controls it as the guy showed me that it would pass the emissions without having to even rev it which you normally have to and it passed! After sorting the mot out I went straight to the post office to get my road tax then to my mechanics to get the car fully serviced. I provided all the parts, timing belt kit, spark plugs, oil filter and oil, and well what a transformation. My mechanic told me that watch how quiet it goes after the service and it purred nicely when it was started, and well the performance, now thats just amazing I think especially since the service. Anyway, now that the cars on the road and fully legit the mods have already started lol...well they started before it was even road legal. Led sidelights have been installed which actually look really nice after seeing them in the dark last nite (the bargain 99p ones off ebay that there was a thread about last week), new Razo gear knob has been fitted and heater rings will be fitted sometime this week. The next step I think will be to get the geometry done on the car then HID's but that'll probably be next month now but I really cant wait as both will transform the car. One little problem though, my TRC OFF light is flashing so I'm guessing that theres a fault with one of the speed sensors but my mechanic has said to bring the car back to him sometime this week and he'll read the code off for free (it was already flashing before I got it serviced so wasnt his fault btw lol). When I've got the code I'll post it up so we can see whats up with it but is my traction control system still working if its got an error? To conclude...even though its been a long battle and one mad project which has left me disheartened at times and thinking about getting rid of the car, my mind has now changed and I love it so will be keeping it for a while I think. Now all I need to do is sell the civic lol...

yup...dont use Elite.....I dont recommend them...

After having had a good look at the car in daylight I've made the decision that the slight adjustment that is required will be carried out by myself as I trust myself more than the garage as I dont want the car messed up again tbh. I'll try and take some pics sometime this week so everyone can see the standard of work but remember the company has made their adjustments to the bumper so when the bonnet is closed it looks ok but still needs tweeking a bit in my opinion.

Mine arrived the other day and I fitted them then as well. For the price they aint too bad I think and brightness wise in daylight I thought they were ok but they have a very focussed light. Due to the sidelights being high up in the lamp on the IS200 I've noticed that they arent as visable as they were in my civic so therefore the total effect is reduced quite a bit I think. I havent checked the lights in the dark yet but judging on their brightness in daylight I thought they werent bad but next time I'll look for ones with a wider spread of light I think as I think the SMD led's just arent for me. overall....not bad at all for 99p lol

Thanks for the advice anees. I've had a long think about it all and I wasnt overly agressive but I did blame them for being cowboys straight to their faces but they werent really bothered tbh thats why I've had enough of the place. The car is technically complete but I think the final tidying up can probably be done by me as I watched them and it was only a matter of loosening different bolts and making adjustments etc. Elite has already made their own getout clause in the fact that they keep stating "remember it was a damaged car and its as best as can be done" they also showed me a carrera 4 showing me the difference in panel gaps on the front where it wasnt even damaged. I suppose it really is a lesson learnt in this aspect but I may just go back to them and have a small word with them regarding how it was all handled. As for the repairs, I'm sure I can align the bumper easily enough so will see how it goes.

Does this apply to the IS200 as well as I think I got a bit of lag if I gently press on the accelerator as well. Maybe its just me thought as I aint used to the car and have only driven it twice for 5 mins lol

Thinking of getting a bulb kit just to tide me over for the time being until I get my HID's in a month or two but has anyone bought from this seller before and whats the quality like of their bulbs as I've previously bought bulbs from ebay and they kept blowing but the seller kept sending me new ones to try and keep me happy lol. Think I was up to the 4th pair maybe after giving up and getting some Ring bulbs lol http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LEXUS-IS200-XENON-IC...A1%7C240%3A1318

yeh its similar to what gord said mate but still it doesnt affect the fact that when the car was initially stolen it coulda been abused in any sort of manner. the seller may say its mint but u never know what lurks beneath. anything could arise at any time mate..

This is whats also crossed my mind but whilst I was kicking off with the garage they kept reminding me that it was an accident damaged car and although stuff can be repaired nothing can be made perfect. But on the other hand when I kept complaining to them they said well we want u satisfied but last night I just got fed up with it all and after it was kinda sorted without it getting worse I just told them to leave it. Oh ffs I just wanna scream! I'll be taking pictures of the car sometime today btw...

Oh yeh Anees, I'll name them for sure mate! Its ELITE CAR REFINISHING in manchester. I did a lot of hunting around for a garage to do the work on my car as u know anees and was given a good quote, by them but also seen their work on an E55 AMG which had very heavy damage to it so after seeing a few cars they had worked on and seeing it was of good quality I decided to use them. I know what you're probably thinking, I made the wrong choice and shoulda used autoserve lol. Well the price that autoserve quoted me increased unfortunatly and on top of that I was getting charged a silly amount to collect the car so unfortunatly I had to give them a miss. My normal bodyshop though on the other hand which done work on my civic didnt want to take on the job for some odd reason, mainly coz it involved jigging the car to sort out the chassis leg but if they had taken on the job I know they woulda done a good job with it. I guess u live and learn but I'm still really gutted about it all and dont know what to do. If the decision is made to take it to a corbett robinson or even autoserve now as the car will be driveable, it'll be later in the year when I've got the money available.

Well...here we go...rant time! As many of u know I've had quite a time with my car as its been an ongoing project since I bought it which was finally completed a few weeks ago apart from a couple of bits (headlight washer jet covers, passenger side wing moulding, passenger side headlight washer jet motor). Well, on monday the car went back to the bodyshop to have the outstanding parts fitted and have the washer jet motor looked at. The car also needed a bit of the paintwork sorting out as well and polishing. Anyway, yesterday afternoon at 5pm whilst I was at uni waiting for my lecture at 6pm I got a phone call from the garage saying that my car is ready. I told them I was at uni and couldnt collect it but they said I had to collect it as they didnt have space so I had to miss my lecture and go and collect the car. When I got to the garage I had a look around the car only to find a big massive gap between the bonnet and the headlights/grill/bumper! To top it all off, they broke my passenger side headlight washer motor and didnt even apologise! They said that they tried to free it up but it was stuck and broke so they fitted the spare one I gave them which was the original from the car which I dont even know if it works or not. After seeing all this I was furious and kicked off with the owner of the garage to which they said the gap looked ok. I told them that they had done the work on the car and it had come out mint and that gap wasnt there when I dropped the car off the previous day. I told them that would they accept a car like that as I definatly wasnt going to accept it and I asked the owner who handled the car and he told me who and I basically asked the owner if he was a cowboy. I asked them what work had been carried out on the car and they assured me that the bonnet had not been touched. In response to my anger the garage took my car back in and set about correcting the issue with my car saying that they had only removed the bumper. Once puzzling over it for a while and not understanding what had gone on they said that the bumper/grill was sitting lower than it should but it was still lined up perfectly with the lights tho which was confusing. Anyway, the brackets that the bumper sit on at the top either side of the grill have now been adjusted so that the bumper if lifted up a bit more (even tho it was a full brand new front panel that was fitted!) but all this adjustment has thrown the alignment out of the right headlight I think as its sticking out a bit now. I let them close the gap up and sort the bumper but to this point have got extremely sick of this garage as sometimes they're spot on and other times they're plain idiots so last night after all the problems I took the car back but now feel so down about everything that I just dont know what to do. I want the car mint but dont want that garage to touch it again so what do people recommend I do? I was also told by the garage that basically its another person finishing off someone elses job, so why not get the same fecking person back who sorted out the alignment of my car in the first place and put it back together again?! Sorry to go on like this everyone but I really need some help. The options which have gone through my head since last night are: 1. Strip the front end myself, possibly with the help of other club members and sort everything ourselves and align it properly. 2. Take it to a PROPER bodyshop (Corbett Robinson) and get them to sort out the final touches to the car. If I take it to this bodyshop the car will come out as tho it just rolled out the factory but they only problem is they aint cheap as they're big time professionals who only do cars like mercs, bmws, aston martins etc. Somone please help me, I lost sleep last night over this and its really disheartended me with regards to this car to the point where I said to the other half last night that I'd rather keep my civic. Rehan

personally I wouldnt touch a car thats been stolen recovered mate even if it was a bargain. it may look fine but u dont know whats going on underneath the skin. the person that stole it coulda ragged the crap out of it over speedbumps etc. stay clear I say. as for the "stolen recovered unrecorded" it means that it isnt on the hpi/dvla/insurance databases so therefore doesnt have a category attached to it although its most probably an insurance write off. Its all down to the insurance assessor and/or insurance company at the end of the day tho if the car is recorded on the database or not.

well they've been despatched now so will give everyone a little review once I've fitted them.

Any other opinions please people? I need to order the oil ideally today or tomorrow.