wayne-m0

How many times has one come across yet another idiot in a carpark usually tescos or somesuch who damages a nice motor and drives off. For me it was a nice door dent, suspect either an old person leaning on the door to get out and hitting mine or a 4x4 with the kids getting out and again whacking my door. makes you wonder why you have a nice car to be honest, always wonder if some idiot will damage it and no one seems to care anymore or maybe I am being synical! Anyhow have you checked the earth bonding on the car. This if rusty and making a poor connection can cause charging problems. Make sure also that the indicator wires and not taped together as can cause a short causing a battery drain. Insulate them seperately but any good auto electrical place can check the battery output and drain etc. Funds are tight for us all I feel these days. Will it ever get better? Anyhow best of luck

Mate, This is a common fault on older models. I had exactly the same problem with mine. Simple answer. It was a sticking caliper. Brakes do not come off completely when braking, disc heats up and warps both disc and grooves pads. Replace caliper. Easy way to check. Once the car has done a few miles, touch each brake disc carefully as you may well find one is very hot and might even smell slighly of burning. You will certainly notice the difference if one of the discs has been rubbing against the pads. My gearstick vibrated badly when braking as well as the steering wheel and after a while, even when driving down the road without braking the wheel vibrated, the discs and pads were that badly affected. My disc after running was roasting hot on the front nearside. Changed caliper on front nearside as well as new set of discs and pads on front and all is well. May get front offside changed in time too as the garage suggested as both look similar age, the other may well start to stick in time. Shame the IS has this weakness it did get me down for sometime till the problem got sorted!!!!! Hope this helps keep us posted if this works!

Hi guys, Well after taking the car to two seperate garages, none were able to recreat the noise after taking it out for a test drive. Managed to get the noise back myself with very slight rev on engine from idle with the windows down. Noise definately coming from centre section of exhaust just under drivers seat. Took it to an exhaust centre who have bent the heat shield away from the centre cat pipe so this might well be the problem. Failing this, the centre cat so I am told might start to be breaking up so might well need to be replaced in time but bottom line from garage is to live with it as quite an expensive exhaust to replace and also the fact that you cant always replace just the one section due to the bolts being fused and parts being heat welded together so may need to replace the complete exhaust system. So there you have it, not an engine problem thankfully just annoying exhaust rattle on an otherwise quiet sounding car. Wonder how many others have had similar or shall we say might develop the very same symptom in due course. One to watch anyhow Cheers Wayne

Hi Guys Anyone else got this problem? Got the clattering noise (intermitant) mainly under load but only hear it with the windows down. Took it to a dealer and he could not trace any noise and nothing found during inspection of engine bay or underside. Said to ignore it until it is there all the time. Cannot reproduce this when revving engine either. Took car away from garage and damned me if it wasnt there within a few miles again. Driving me nuts this problem anyone else got this IS200 quirk?

Well guys, The old rattle noise is back!! So much for thinking it was the loose trim, never an easy cheap fix eh! Well going in for another check and suspect from this forum that it could be either a bearing in the alternator, water pump on the way out, heat shield vibrating at certain RPM or possibly tensioner. We will see but the noise only happens occasionaly and at certain revs. Thought it sounded a bit like having stones on your tyres but sometimes if I sit and rev the engine, I can get the noise to come and go. Damned annoying so want to get to the bottom of it in case it could lead to a more serious problem/failure. Standby for more update and no doubt more expense!

Hi mate, Well there are replacement exhaust parts including cats on e-bay so had my eye on them in case the garage diagnosed these as the problem. Car on ramp, exhaust checked for rust, loose mounting and also cats checked by banging when cold to see is these were breaking up. All fine. There are some plastic trim strips underneath the car running alongside the exhaust. These are bolted on and one of the bolts had come away from the car leaving the plastic trim hanging down loose by a small amount. Basicaly when tapped these made the same noise and one can imagine the noise should the wind catch the trim at speed. So luckily a quick self tapper and the trim is now tight again so hopefully a quick fix. Hope this helps cheers Wayne

Well the car is in the garage on wednesday so hopefully it will be nothing more than a heatshield. I believe that the Lexus IS200 has two pre cats on the front of the exhaust, a main cat in the centre and then silencer in the rear. With luck it will be a cheap fix but not holding my breath! Thanks again

Hi everyone, Not sure if this is a common problem on the IS200 series but suspect I might have a middle cat which is on its way out. Getting a metalic/rattle type noise when I accelerate sometimes usualy under load ie uphill and seems to be coming from the mid section. Tried revs when stationary and cannot reproduce the noise. Only just started and can almost desribe it as a pinking type noise but only happens very occasionaly. How many cats are on the lexus IS200 exhaust system and should I just take the plunge and look at getting the exhaust system replaced or is it worth living with it for now until it gets worse ie does it all the time? How much for a replacement or maybe get second hand off e-bay? I have no failure or warning lights and the acceleration and power is good also so wonder if it is worth taking to an exhaust place to see if they can spot any problems and hope I dont get fobbed off etc. Thanks everyone

Well good news, they changed the OSF wheel bearing for a second time and no charge! They incorrectly assumed that the NSF was changed last time so changed the OSF this time round due to having a NSF brake caliper sticking last time so it warped the disc so they believed it had heated up the bearing and caused it to fail on that side. Luckily I kept the reciept for the work carried out last time. So this is now the second OSF bearing so I may well take it to a Lexus dealer to get it checked out once I have covered a few miles so it beds in, just in case they have fitted it incorrectly. Still get a noise but suspect tyres although it does seem to be NSF which is where the disc brake got hot so do wonder if it has caused some damage to the bearing. But the garage said it was fine just the OSF noisy unlike Lexus who did a quick survey when I had it serviced and they said suspect NSF bearing noisy but cannot isolate during road test due to tyre noise. Hmm the plot continues and once again, Lexus has stated that the bearings on these cars never go wrong unless abused by another garage not knowing what thay are doing etc. Makes me wonder what history the car has had and I have little faith in the bearings still. Be interesting to know how many other IS200 owners have had bearing problems!!!!!!!!!

Hi everyone. Ok have an IS200 Sport 2001 82,000 miles. Had a drumming noise from the front of the car a while back (Jan this year) which I suspected was a wheel bearing. Took it to Lexus and they confirmed a wheel bearing (OSF) had gone but the quote was too high for me to get it replaced with them at the time. They did advise that this is a specialty job and that another garage may bodge the replacement. Poss they wanted my business or could be fact. Anyhow they stated that they had never had a wheel bearing go on one of these models and surprised one had gone! Went to another garage not Lexus for a second quote and they confirmed also that OSF bearing had gone and replaced it as a much better quote on 22 Jan 2011. The car had done 79,000 miles at that time. They told me that the wheel bearings on these are not hard to replace and no specialist knowledge or tools required no more than any other car so were happy to go ahead and change the bearing. Well I now have a noise coming from the front again and suspect a wheel bearing. This time noise seems to be from NSF. Went to Lexus for a service and during their walkround they confirmed that there is a noise suspect NSF but unable to confirm due to tyre noise. Went back to the original garage where I had the OSF wheel bearing replaced to see if they could diagnose the problem and would you believe it, OSF bearing has gone again not NSF which according to them is ok. So they have changed it again. So this is less than 6 months later and also only 3000 miles since it was changed. My query is, do you think I have a case to not pay for the replacement bearing but poss labour charge? I am due to pick up the car this weekend. So I do wonder if:- The bearing was fitted incorrectly in the first place? Was it a poor manufactured bearing and faulty on fit? Anyhow I am losing faith in my Lexus now, all I seem to get is noise from the front and now not convinced if I have another problem causing the bearing to fail on the OSF or that perhaps the left hand bearing is starting to fail also but not enough to diagnose at this time ie not a rough feel to it or noise when spinning wheel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Any advice guys?

Hi, Have just had my antifreeze changed at Lexus and noticed after when the car is cold that the expansion tank level is half full. Raditator is full. Would it be wise to top the expansion tank back up to full (pink coolant I assume) or leave as is? Assume levels have settled after running for a bit with room for expansion when hot and no sign of leaks at all. Thanks everyone

Hi everyone, I was thinking about taking my Lexus IS200 to the Lexus dealer and getting the differential and gearbox oils changed. The car is coming up to 10 years old and I have noticed that in the service manual it does state that these should be changed at a set frequency. Has anyone bothered to have theirs done and is it worth doing? Benefit I guess is less wear and smoother gear change and no doubt the old oil would be pretty sludgey. Many thanks Wayne

Brilliant reply's guys thanks, but like I stated in my original post and now verified by one of the links there is a quote which states "this is why the belts must be checked every 10k after the 60k service. the tensioner pulley wears and as you can see pushes the belt onto the cover, wearing it down to nothing. ive never come across one thats snapped yet but i have found them as small as 9-10mm!!!! so do please check your belts its easy to do". So I do wonder how many of you do in fact bother to check or if you just leave it for the 100,000 or 6 years. Mine has done an additional 20,000 so I am tempted to check it to make sure it has not slipped or worn. Be good to know how many others have done this or noted problems.

Hi guys, Thanks for the input. It's just that some members on this site have mentioned that they have checked theirs after inital fitting say after 20,000 miles and have found that it has worn to some degree on the cambelt cover i.e. belt has slipped slightly. Maybe the fit was incorrect or tension? I guess it takes a little getting used to with all the horror stories that the belt can be left for another 60,000! Thanks again

Hi everyone, I know there has been some talk about the timing belts on the IS200 series. There is conflicting information however in the site. My belt was changed on spec at 60,000 miles. It is now at 80,000 miles so I believe that all that is needed for now is to have it visually inspected to make sure it has not slipped/worn on the cambelt cover. Once this is done then it remains in situ until 100,000 miles when it is next due change. Some people have stated that it should be changed 20,000 miles later so should I change it now or just get it inspected? Also seems Toyota garage is the way to go not Lexus due to the age of my car 2001. They have the knowledge to do the belt even if you loose out on not having the Lexus stamp, not worth it for my car! Any advice most welcome thanks