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LennyLexus

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Posts posted by LennyLexus

  1. 1 hour ago, Linas.P said:

    Halfords retail and Autocentres are both subsidiaries off Halfords Group Plc. So they are the same company... Regarding the receipt it is fair point, according to their terms and conditions that is required. Though manufacturing date is clearly stamped on the battery and I had invoice (not receipt) with the date the battery was fitted... The point is that both were pointing to each other - Autocentres looked to invoice and said they have nothing to do with it, because it was Halfords retail which sold it. Halfords retail said that Autocentres should replace it if they found it faulty... We didn't even get to the point where they would look at the receipt, so I am sure exactly the same story would have happened even if I would have had the receipt. The only difference - if I would have had the receipt I would have not shied away from taking them to court (principal), but because I didn't the chances of winning the case would have been very slim, just on the technical point.

    One way or another, my experience dealing with Halfords is consistently awful and not only when it comes to battery and warranty.

    Talking about specific price you got (£115) that is pretty terrible as well. You can get Lexus to fit you original battery for £105. I personally feel OE Panasonic battery from Lexus is little bit underpowered, but still much better than anything Halfords can offer.... and you will have piece of mind it will last and will be the right one and correctly fitted.

    Retail and autocentres are very separate business arms for the plc with distinct reporting lines. Anyway I would have gone down the credit card claim route if there was such an issue (downside is it takes 8 weeks). 

    Lexus fit an OE replacement for £95, but it's a 3 year warranty and only 1 year labour. Yuasa seems to be legendary Japanese brand, more power and a 5 year warranty. £100 including fitting after gold member discount seems like a good deal, I would definitely supervise while they carried out the works.

  2. On 05/03/2018 at 3:33 PM, Linas.P said:

    I would advice to go with anyone, but Halfrauds... 

    I had their battery fitted (some sort of Halfords "Platinum" 4 years warranty), it failed after 2.5 years (Diagnosed by halfrauds service themselves - shorting cells) and both Halfrauds Retail and Service declined to replace it under warranty pointing at each other. All in all any on occasions I had to deal with either Halfords Service or Retail they provided appalling customer service every time consistently and nearly worst prices in the market. 

    Linas, this is extremely odd and having followed your other Battery posts, I think it's fair to say that you are being a bit unreasonable here. Halfords retail and autocentres are separate businesses, the auto centre arm was brought from Lex autocentres. You contract is with Halfords retail, you lost the receipt two years later and expected a replacement.. how can they be sure the Battery was from the back of a lorry?

    Agreed with Bob, some branches have excellent service and competent staff while other have dossing incompetents.

  3. On 05/03/2018 at 2:59 PM, KenMavor said:

     

    Ask you friendly recovery man for a recommendation.  They know the best batteries for each car.  And usually know the best place locally to get one.  They can also supply and fit one for a price....well the AA and RAC can.

    He said avoid Halfords own make, but Yuasa are legendary, let Halfords do the speccing and fitting and leave the onus on them.

  4. On 05/03/2018 at 2:34 PM, rayaans said:

    Being rated better doesn't necessarily mean its better. It has a 5 year warranty but they tend to go dead just over 5 years. 

    These Bosch and Varta batteries, although only having 4 years, tend to last a heck of a long time sometimes. My son's car is running on an OEM Varta battery - its 9 years old!

    The car is still running on OEM 12 years later. I doubt a Yuasa is going to go bad after 5 years. As long as the Yuasa fits, there's no point mulling over the finer details, £20 a year for guaranteed Battery performance is a low risk outlay. A £600 set of tyres (could) last as a little as 10k etc.

  5. As your car is out of warranty, I would recommend Tiburon Auto in Birmingham. Ross is a petrol head/geek and up for a technical challenges. Fault diagnosis is a maximum of £60.

    For servicing I would recommend providing the parts yourself part from diff oil and using his labour and stamps. He is very well known in the Korean car community, but is knowledgeable about most things automotive.

  6. 4 hours ago, johnatg said:

    That's the wrong battery - like many battery suppliers Halfords try to fob you off with one that will do (as indeed it will). It is a Type 030. IS250 needs a 068 - that's a rare size (it doesn't even appear on many battery size specification charts) and few battery suppliers stock them. 068 is the same size as 069 but with the terminals in the opposite orientation.

    I'd suggest you get a Bosch S4026 or Varta E23 (they appear to be identical). Suppliers include CarParts4Less, GSF etc. You are unlikely to find it in stock in a shop.

    It is likely that your battery is knackered - modern batteries frequently fail without warning.

    You don't mention what year your car is (and your profile says you have a 2001 IS200) but I think all IS250s need the same battery size.

    I think I will go with the Halfords one it fits, Halfords is around the corner from me and 5Y warranty appear appealing.

    If seems that The Yuasa is a better Battery vs the Bosch, 75Ah vs 70Ah and 640Ah vs 630Ah and 5years v 4 years.

    The breakdown man said it's charging fine, but will need replacing, my mechanic said its just a phase for winter, but I'm a little nervous after Texas's comments.

     

  7. Lexi Lou II had minor hesitation starting last Wednesday and Thursday, hasn't been driven since Thursday evening and would not start this morning. What for recovery chap to charge her up.

    Is a new Battery needed or is this just a phase (never had an issue in 2 years of my ownership). I'll let me know if its still on the original Battery.

    Is this Halfords one suitable or is there a better offer?

    http://www.halfords.com/motoring/bulbs-blades-batteries/car-batteries/yuasa-5-year-guarantee-hsb030-silver-12v-car-battery

    Guessing is £115 fitted before LOC Gold discount, so just under £100 guaranteed for 5 years.

    Thanks

  8. Google money saving expert car insurance, there is a technique to cover most of the market.. I'd probably stick to John Lewis.

    I think insurance costs have gone up this month Vs last month. I was quoted £600 a month ago, £800 for the same quote today, luckily my previous quote is locked in and complete today.

  9. It really depends on your future intentions for the car and/ or if you have a great mechanic (known on the internet).

    As a minimum I would go for the essential care monthly package for cars over 5 years old. This works out to £35 a month is for the CT on 8 monthly schedules, but excludes spark plus, air and cabin filters, diff oil and coolant change, you can get these done elsewhere or pay the extra at Lexus. 

    For 40k/4years I have been offered amazingly discounted service plans (£1500 worth for £900), shop around and negotiate with various dealers, this year they have only offered 30Pc.

    I would highly advise against Kwik fit and Halfords etc, they don't perform and manufacturer spec service or use OEM parts, fully synthetic oil is not included, these places also offer dealer spec services, however they are more expensive or the same price as a dealer. When I see a fast fit stamp in a service book, to me says the person didn't really care about their car. 

    I'm moving away from dealer servicing because I've found mechanic who I trust but more importantly a quick Google shown his stamps well respected and known amongst car enthusiasts, services from him are expensive, the only way I've managed to make it more economically viable then main dealer is by supplying most of the parts myself (filters etc from Rockauto, oil from ECP). However with a hybrid I would probably negotiate with Lexus.

  10. 48 minutes ago, ColinBarber said:

    A fault code relating to the O2 sensors doesn't mean the sensor is faulty - as with anything you still have to diagnose the issue.

    That's the main point Brains. All my sensors were tested and shown to be within optimal working range. 

    Do you think it's a case of when rather than if for for the upstream sensors to need replacement? The same for the water pump? I'm currently just under 100k. If that's the case I'll buy from Rock and keep in stock.

  11. Hello,

     

    Welcome to my build thread for my second Lexus, it's about saying NO to a car payment and the day to day running and maintaining of my standard 2006 IS250 SEL (Brechin Slate/Breakwater Blue). I will update this post in chronological order.

     

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BfVkH6lH2qG/?taken-by=lexuslenny

     

    March 2016

    Picked up from Nottingham, 83k on the clock, full Lexus Service to Jan-14 (63k), i.e it was overdue a minor service by 10k and 14 months, risk and gamble I took, reflected in the service.

     

    A 3-year service plan was ordered from Lexus Birmingham at a significant discount for 100k (10 years), 110k and 120k services.

     

    100k service was carried out as a priority, including the coolant flush, engine flush, fuel flush, diff oil, brake fluid.

    I will later dig out the advisory notes from the service.

     

    October 2016

    Occasional P0420 errors (Catalyst efficiency) starting showing, didn't think anything of it, as this was showing when MPG was really high, 38+ on long motorway runs.

     

    November 2016

    Can't remember was the previous brand of front tyres were, however they got to the point where they needed reinflating every other day. I had these replaced with Avons.

     

    February 2017

    Just scrapped through the MOT on emissions due to a split in the centre exhaust. Checking the MOT history, this was also a problem the year before (just before I bought it). The exhaust was patched up for £20. P0420 errors disappeared and exhaust was silent.

     

    April 2017

    Minor Service at Lexus Birmingham and Fuel Gasket repair recall work performed.

    Exhaust repair flopped, and was repaired at Independent for £30.

    P0171 and P0174 started developing, Lexus said it was due to the holes in the exhaust.

     

    September 2017

    Really fed up with the poor handling performance/safety, explored proper wheel alignment, uprated shocks, springs, bushes, arbs. Hand the car professionally checked over by a local racing driver and custom car builder. He confirmed everything was fine except the excuse of tyres on the back (Landsails - PLEASE AVOID -no idea what these were made off, 15k/30months later and still thread was like new). These were replaced with Goodyear Eagle (highest rating vs total number of mileages driven and best value), handling has been amazing since (except cold days).

     

    October 2017

    Front Brake overhaul - Frenchtech Slide Pin Kit, brembo Pads, MTEC grooved and dimpled discs. Stopping power was amazing.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BfVcJpMHoSp/?taken-by=lexuslenny

     

    December 2017

    Karbon Klean performed their top of the range package (half price x-mas offer at £49.99). I hoped this resolve the Lean Code issues, no luck, and the not much seemed to be cleaned (as I used BP fuel and Acrhoil AR6900PMax almost every fill).

     

    January 2018

    Annual mileage due to go from 8k to 16k a year for work. So a few issues need long-term resolution mainly the Exhaust patches and Lean Error Codes.

     

    Exhaust - shopped around for SS OEM sounding replacements, didn't really want to go with a mild steel replacement that only came with a 1 or 2 warranty, and I certainly didn't want to get an OEM system for £3-4k again with no significant warranty.

    Price ranges in the Midlands were between £650-£1500. In the end I went LongLife Birmingham as they promised they go a lifetime warranty on a partial SS repair £150.

     

    Committed to keeping the car - "LX5* ***" number plate fitted.

     

    I was ready to purchase O2 sensors for P0171 and P0174 errors, the sensors were tested at Tiburon Auto/LongLife and confirmed to be working without issues (£400+ in parts saved),

     

    February 2018

    P0171 and P0174 errors fixed at Tiburon, turned out to be a loose breather pipe (bargain price of £30 for 30mins diagnostics and repair)

    New wipers fitted (Bosch Super Flats, the passenger had gotten damaged due to ice and I didn't like the mismatched look).

    MOT passed with NO Advisories and flying colours on the emissions test.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BfShLhlnHWi/?taken-by=lexuslenny

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