Hi All,
Ok I am a newbie to this site as my misses has now picked up her new lexus and she is like a kid with a new toy haha. I have always done my own work , currently my own car is a rover 600 which I fitted a prelude 2.2 vetc engine to so I know my way round an engine bay and pretty good twirling the old spanners lol so as I will be doing all the work and some of the driving (I hope) I guess I best introduce myself (jules) and hello to all
Ok we picked up the misses car the other day , earlier that originally invisage but her old rover 200 went terminal so needs be needs must. Anyway we have had the car now 2 days and last nite was the 1st opertunity we both had to got thru the car with a fine tooth pick. Obviously we checked the basics when we got the car but were were rushin round to sort stuff out so couldnt spend to loong looking over her.
Anyway before I forget the car is a "T" reg lexus is200 sport and has 117k on the clocks.
Ok to date this is what I have found so far .
1. Water in the boot, 2 inchs deep and was solid as it had turned to ice. Had a good look on the foroum and there was nothing conclusive to confirm if there is a common place were the water gets in.. Topics have mentioned boot seal,sunroof drain offs etc so when its daylight I will go thru these to see if we have any blockages etc . conclusion- will have a look on the weekend unless some one can give nme a difinative answer.
2.Petrol flap wouldnt lock properly, you had to lean against it to lock, conclusion - a sharp knife took the edge off the plastic locator for the stricker pin and now it works just by gently shutting it.
3. Gear knob scuffed and worn, guess I ewill have to get a replacemnt from the scrappy , does it just unscrew???
4. Head unit is the older version with the cd at the bottom. Omg it still works but it is very sensitive. When you go over any bumps in the road the cd stops and then restarts but so far works fine when its running so fingers crossed on that one . I am going to have to say this for lexus thou, most oem headunits are horrible but the lexus set is actually very very good . I have a kenwood modulator that attaches itself inline with the ariel feed so if the lexus cd fails I may just use the kenwood modulator as it allows for 10 disck multichange, aux in, and usb memeory stick to be pumped in thru the ariel feed and to a pretuned radio sation.
5. Ok I think the rear speakers have bin "pumped up" and are crackling ok not the end of the world but can someone please answer me this. What make are they supposed to be as there are sonys in there atm???? and they have 4 wires which appear to be the norm, did lexus use sony?????
6. Squeaky clutch pedal, misses has mentioned that its becoming annoying , guess this is just a lube job or should I be aware of any issues here???.
7. Wheels , well looking thru the foroum last nite with the search button well guess a rub down and lick of paint will have to suffice on that one.
8. One of the front fogs is doa pos bulb failed and drivers side headlight has condensation inside of it. Okay I will give this oven trick a go but is that the only way you can get the glass away from the housing then? Also is there any additional glue you can put with it when you reaseemble it?
9. I have hid's in my car so I will order some hb4's for the dipped beam for her as she likes my headlights.
OK now we in the engine bay. Over all not that bad actually, couple of pick isssues and possible some concerns but I mite just be being a bit anal so please for give me lol
10. Okay full lock to lock I can see the power steering pump stop starting so guess belt needs some adjustment.
11. Oil is nice and clean and has remained constant in the last two days so all good there.
12. Power steering fluid all level as is the brake/clutch fluid.
13. rad seems relatively new guess this may have been replaced as all the fins etc are all intact and the water level was full.
14. Right, Anal time , the expansion tank was empty, oh great !!! I did the search feature and tbh I know the signs to look for so had a good look round all the pipes and water pump. There is a residual sitting on top of the water pump near the bypas pipe, so will keep an eye on that over the next few days. We looked at several lexus some newer than what we finally got and they all seem to have had empty /half empty expansion tanks lol, not funny thou . Hopefully as the fluid has crystalized it may have sealed itself but will see over the next few days but as I said the rad was full to the top and the coolant was red in colour - hey what ever happened to blue coolant lol
15. The engine has been the quiestest we have heard so far , nice bonus and the tickover is nice and stable , but typical rocker cover leak .
16. Aircon works fine, no squeals or anything , fluid can be seen via the iinspection glass.
17. Tyres have plenty of tread all round inc the spare as well so they wont need replacing but one thing I noticed is that when I used the search feature, it apears that the lexus standard tracking is not up to it and that the car needs to be tracked on all four corners with companies like super tracker etc etc . There is one local to me but misses hasnt noticed anything adverse with the steering and it runs true but will keep an eye on the tyres over the next couple of months.
18. The plastics on top of the rocker cover have bin broken espeically near the oil filler, going to scrappy to find replacement parts as its unsightly.
Okay thats about it really, most of these issues are minor , car had mot the same day we bought it with 2 minors advisries, partially blocked washer jet and chip in windscreen. The two real worries for me is the coolant level , had many an experience over the last few years lol and this damn water leak in the boot as i dont do leaks .
Oh one question, does the radio have a code???? ie if I disconnect the batt will I have to enter a code to get the head unit to come back on??? If you do have to enter a code urm I dont have one , will lexus supply a code if they have proof of ownership/chassis vin etc.
Anyway sorry to go on but I have to say the misses has chose a nice car and its our 1st lexus so hopefully we will have happy motoring.
Thanks jules
