flappypenguin

cheers for the replies all, sorry about taking ages to respond... been really busy, will be in touch with someone soon :)

Hey all, anyone recommend a good (not overly expensive) garage in the Dunfermline area? Done 10k in the last 7-8 months miles and its last service was about that long ago so i think i should go get it checked over. Cheers :)

my car goes sideways in the rain with TRC on :|

£420 / fully comp / 5 years Protected no claims - standard IS200 2002 model. Im 27 with 3 points on lisence.

They didnt as it would appear. It happened again on friday evening and again this morning... need to phone them and get it booked back in. Starting to wish i'd never bought this car, my 14 year old MR2 was more reliable!!!!

It seemed the problem with the car was a "blocked breather valve", due to the mechanical valve failing accroding to the garage, which was supposedly fixed, yet the problem still exists.

cheers Ed, yes i assumed there would be but i didnt know what to search for lol.

Hello again everyone, just me asking aniother pointless and annoying question... i heard from someone that the IS200 has a variable valve (or was it cylinder?) engine... can someone explain to me how this works? does it only use a certain amount of them up till a specific amount of revs or something?

Thanks for the advice Kev Dood, will bare that in mind if they hit me with a heafty bill... rang them there and got he receptionist who said "they found a blocked valve someplace", didnt say where but im assuming that would be one of the 24 valves? there has been no mention of cost so far so im assuming its udner warenty, they are letting the car run for an hour, then cool down, then run for another hours so i've to call back at the end of the day to see if its been fixed.

UPDATE: Right, its back at the dealer where i bught it from (under warenty), i just rang them and asked what was happening, and they have said they are going to keep it over night and ring me tomorrow (like a hospital patient lol), but apparently the machanic "doesnt think its the head gasket", whats the chances that it IS the head gasket, and they are fixing it but then saying its something else that isnt covered under warenty so they can bill me???

Hi again all, thanks for all the responses... Im trying to check if my coolant is low or not, but im having trouble... i leaned over the bonnet and can see the ittle window that indicates the level, but its sort of frosted plastic and i cant really see any sort of level in it, which means it ither way past empty or above full i guess? i removed the coolant cap and looked inside and i can see some purple fluid in there (anti freeze coolant?), if i can see fluid there does that mean that my coolant level is fine for now? i need to drive the car tomoz to my work, then its going to the garage to get looked at (through the dealer under warenty), the dealer told me if my coolent level is ok then the car is fine to drive, i just cant tell lol.

Hi mate, i cant swap the wheels cos my spare doesnt match the rest... i have aftermarket wheels that are a different size to the original wheels. Not sure if you read this or not, but i got my rear wheels balanced and it fixed the vibration problem^^ maybe it would fix yours too?

pm'd u mate.

Hi everyone, i spoke to someone else today who knows a little about cars, and he also suggested that the head gasket sounds like its burst, .. i checked the dip stick and sure enough it had little bits of sludge on it too, so im going to assume thats whats wrong seen as 2 people have said that now. Asi, i'll PM you.

Anyone know of any good, trustworthy mechanics in Dunfermline? I've only recently moved through here so dot know the area well, i had good mechanics i could trust in Dundee (Rosefield motors), but its a bit far for me to travel these days, and they arent open at weekends. Cheers :)

I've only had it a week, and its been doing it sinse the day i got it. Cant post a video as i dont have a video camera of any sort unfortunately :( I can only assume the MOT inspector didnt see it cos it wasnt there, it may have happened after i boiught the car, cos they replaced the rear break discs and a rear tyer, so they were obviously checked... Going to put in in for a service and get it looked at.

thanks for all that info (most of it was over the top of my head though lol) Millage: 70,000k. (2002 Reg) Yes - i uses fully synthetic oil. Service history - once a year by Lexus main dealer. I think im going to put it in for a service, the garage said they serviced it when i bought it (it was also put through an MOT), but 2 days after i bought it i had to replace a front tyer as it was buldging and looked ready to pop, how the garage "missed" that ...........? Keep the theory's coming, i want to be able to take it to a garage and sound like i know what im talking about so i dont get ripped off cos its a Lexus, cos im really really skint just now lol.

Hello all, Ive already been having a discussion on this in another thread but the thread title isnt relivent so thought i'd start a fresh one for future searches/references... The problem: I've noticed that every now and then (usually after a long period of driving, or sitting in a long que of traffic) when i accelerate there is a pile of blue/white smoke billowing out my exhaust. Its quite allot - to the point where people are staring in at me as they drive past and pointing to the back of the car. My oil light came on the other day so i checked the oil, and it was low so i topped it up and crossed my fingers it would be ok, but it hasnt changed anything. Someone suggested on the other thread that i may have water in my oil, can anyone expand on this? is it mixing with the oil before it goes through the engine or after? where's it likely to be coming from (sorry, im totaly useless with machanic stuff), is it easily/cheaply fixed, will it cause long term costly damage if i dont get anything done about it straight away? Again, any help is greatly appreciate!! Thanks.

sorry, whats a pil cap and where is it located?

Cheers NathanM, i checked the oild last night and sure enough it was low so ive toped it up and will keep an eye on it. Is it potentially a big problem?

hi sol12, thanks for the feedback.. as stated aboved my Oil light came on today, is this becuase its just low on oil or something else?

Resolved: Hello everyone, just letting you all know that the vibration issue was rear balancing and has been sorted. The bad point for me is that its because one of my rear wheels is severy under balanced, it required 125g of weight added to it whcih they wernt keen on doing but did anyway, they said that typically wheels get 20g-40g and tey would consider 40 to be high. Warping/buckling is not visible on the wheel so the best bet is something wrong with the compound of the metal or something like that, either way i have a short term fix to a long term problem, cant afford new wheels for quite a while. Unresolved: Im still getting the blue/white smoke billowing out my exhaust when accelrrating hard (over 5000rpm), again it doesnt do it every time, just seems to be if ive covered allot of miles then do it for a quick blast, but the amount is just not right in my opinion... it covers the whole road behind me and i can see it lingering for hundreds of yards behind me too. My oil light came on today so i will check the oil when i get home, but im not convinced they are related as if it was an oil issue, the smoke would be black surely?

Update: I gave my mechanics a call, they used to deal with my MR2 and have allot of experience with Toyota's so they are a good start for free... they dont think that it is a gear problem, based on the fact that i can drive past the vibration, in thier eyes if it was a gear problem, the vibration would get worse as i got faster past the point where the vibration starts. They think i should get my rear wheels balanced which is a cheap place to start aswell i guess... the car DOES have aftermarket Wolfrace wheels on it, so it could be a possibility. I'll cross my fingers on that one. On the blue/white smoke issue, a friend of mine who used to be a a Lexus auto electrician thinks its just a build up of carbon or something in the CAT, the car has obviously sat around for a while in the garage too and it may not have been driven hard for a while, he has suggested i give it a good blast and keep and eye on it. I have been driving it quite calm as well really and i know that carbon does build up but my previous car ddint have a CAT so this is new to me, i just gave it a quick blast a couple of times (once to see what it could do, and once to overtake an old woman lol) I'll update further if i get any results, please get back to me if you have any other theory's/experience. Ta.

Hello all, i just piked up my IS200 (02 plate, 70k miles) at the weekend there, and so far im loving it, great car to drive! i just have a couple of things that i'd like to run past you all as i dont know if its me being paranoid or just inexperienced with the car... 1st issue: In 6th gear, im getting a vibration/shudder through the gear box, its very similar to the feeling you get with bad wheel balance but without the steering wheel shake, its only seems to happen at about 2500/3100 revs (or 60-70mph), its not THAT bad, but its enough to make me think "what the hell is that?", is there a known issue with this at all? i had a search and found some people had a similar problem but they didnt go on to say what it was they just said "dealer is fixing it", and i dont have that luxury as its 2nd hand... i do have a 3 month warenty from the garage but there are a whole host of things it doesnt cover so if anyone knows whats what then that would be great! 2nd issue: I've noticed a couple of times when accelerating quite hard in 2nd gear, there was a pile of blue/white smoke billowing out the exhaust which i noticed just checking my RV mirror, it was quite allot - to the point where the guy in the car behind me must having been thinking "what an arse" lol. I've only noticed this happening twice and am just wondering if anyone has any thoughts? I really am hoping these arent big problems as i've really stretched my budget to buy this car and in all honesty, if i have to fund a major repair right now, im gunna struggle :s ANY help/advice is really appreciated! Cheers.

hey again, thanks for the welcome :) Its just a base model IS200 02 plate, got it a decent price and its very clean, will post pics asap... only mod it has is new 17" Wolfrace alloys, which are not bad, not convinced they suit the car but hey, they arent corroded lol...