MärkJ

Yeah the current wheels you have look the best. Not that I'm biased in any way.

I've never suffered a leaky sunroof on the Lexus so I'm not sure of their construction but before you rush out and buy a new seal, open the sunroof and check if there are any drainage holes around the seal. Whenever I've had leaky sunroof problems on other cars it's usually because these drain holes have become blocked with grime. Poking around with a knitting needle or similar quite often dislodges whatever is in there and resolves the problem. Quite often these drainage holes run down the windscreen pillars and let the water out of the bottom. Just a thought.

Most subwoofers or auxillary amplifiers utilize the remote lead so that they switch on automatically when the head unit comes on. You can still splice into the remote lead from your head unit and use it switch your subwoofer on as well as activating the relay for your handbrake bypass.

It does if you lock it with the switch on the door console.

No need to worry about the factory amp any more. You have disconnected it so as you have said, just connect it to the battery and to the subwoofer pre-out on the new head unit. Treat it as you would install a subwoofer on any other aftermarket setup.

Nothing to it, really. Need to remove the air box to access the coilpacks. These are held in with a bolt (I forget which size). Remove each coil pack and the spark plugs can be got to. Just do them one at a time so you don't mix the wiring up.

No. You leave the amp completely disconnected. You don't need this anymore as your new head unit has a built in amplifier. The larger connector you removed from the amp plugs into the bypass lead, the bypass lead then plugs into the ISO lead (or in your case will need joining with terminal blocks), the ISO lead then plugs into your new head unit. Fitted the unit yesterday, I unplugged the bigger connection from the amp and plugged that into the bypass cable which i plugged into the head unit but the smaller connection is still connected to the amp as there was no where to connect that to. The stereo works and sound from all speakers. Where should the smaller connection from the amp plug into? You're okay to leave the smaller one plugged into the amp. The other end of this lead is the lead that would have been plugged into your factory head unit. Since the factory head unit no longer exists it is not needed. There will be no power to the amp now as it was all suppied by the larger connector which is now plugged into your bypass lead supplying power to your new head unit. If you really wanted to you could remove the amp and other lead completely but it is a lot of hassle getting it out so I would just leave it where it is.

No. You leave the amp completely disconnected. You don't need this anymore as your new head unit has a built in amplifier. The larger connector you removed from the amp plugs into the bypass lead, the bypass lead then plugs into the ISO lead (or in your case will need joining with terminal blocks), the ISO lead then plugs into your new head unit.

so just replace the connection that is joined to the currect stereo with the bypass cable? i managed to get to the back of the amp and seen the 2 connections- need to wait for my headunit to arrive tomorrow to actually fot it Pretty much. You'll also be bypassing the amp too as you will be disconnecting the speakers from it and plugging these directly into your bypass cable. The larger of the two connectors is the one you will be connecting it to.

That lead isn't the same as the one that came with my Pioneer one. It should still be do-able but you will need to work out which wires go where, cut the connector off one end of your amp bypass lead and join the two together with terminal blocks (or solder if you prefer). Getting the plugs out of the back of the amp is very fiddly and requires a lot of cursing and swearing but you can get to it without removing the dashboard. There are two connectors plugged into the amplifer. One of them is simply the other end of the harness that went to your factory stereo (you no longer need this). The other one is the connector for all of the speakers/power etc. Plug your bypass lead into this connector.

Does the lead that came with the head unit not have connector at both ends? The small connector (ISO) plugs into the head unit and the larger connector on the other end plugs into your amp bypass lead.

Yes it does but only CD-R. They don't play CD-RWs.

These cars are phenomenally reliable. Mine's a '99 and the only things I've had to replace are the consumables you'd expect. Tyres, brakes and a cambelt that lasted to 148K miles! Oh and the OEM CD player but that goes without saying on these. I think the clutch might need doing on mine soon but 165K on one clutch ain't bad at all! As for revving, these cars seem happier when shifting higher up the rev range. As said in a previous post, changing below 3000rpm seems to cause the engine to labour more. I find mine's happiest when changing between 3K/4K revs.

Yeah that's Granite Sky. Same as mine. Good luck with finding a bottom loading OEM player that still works. My original one died a couple of weeks ago and I was told that the top loading one has different connections so wouldn't work. In the end I went for aftermarket. Pioneer stereos (as do all modern ones) use the ISO connections so you should be able to plug an aftermarket player straight in. The amplifier is behind the glove box (at least it is on RHD models). The ISO lead should have been plugged into the speaker connector that was originally plugged into the back of the amp.

As said above, I'd get the belt changed as soon as possible for peace of mind.

Remove the glove box and look at the left hand side and you should see the amplifier. There are two connectors plugged into the back of it which you need to disconnect. The smaller one will be the other end of that lead in your picture. The larger connector is where all of the speakers are wired to. The bypass lead needs to be plugged into this larger connector and then the other end will plug into the ISO lead supplied with the aftermarket head unit.

Yes the manual IS200s do not have the gear indicator panel in the dash.

Was trying to plug into the plug that I took out of the back of the amplifier. Think I found the right lead I need now though so hopefully should arrive in a day or so. Thanks guys.

Hi guys, I've just bit the bullet and bought a replacement stereo for the IS200 since the OEM finally died. As it's a Sport with the amplifier I bought an amp bypass lead for it. However, the lead they sent doesn't seem to fit unless I'm being really stupid. I unplugged the connectors from the back of the amplifier which look like this... and Presumably the first one is connected to all the speakers and the second one runs to the back of the OEM player. The lead I have been sent has these connectors on it which do not seem to fit... Before I send it back ranting, am I trying to plug it in the right place? I'm guessing this bypass lead should connect to the connector in the first picture and the other end of it goes to the ISO lead supplied with the new player. The bypass lead said on the box that it's a "PC2-93-4 Lexus By-pass Harness 98-03". Is this lead definitely the wrong one? Thanks guys. :duh:

The first thing I always check is that there are no flies/wasps/bees flying around inside.

Whilst I like the idea of the Grom thingy I like to have the option of playing CDs so I've gone and ordered one that plays them and has iPhone connectivity as well so I should get the best of both worlds. B)

Curses. Oh well I guess it was a bit of a long shot. I'll just have to have a browse around the aftermarket stuff and see what's on offer. Probably go for Pioneer as they've never let me down in the past.

Hi guys, My bottom loading CD player has finally given up after 12 years and is showing the Err3 code. I've removed it and managed to get all the loaded discs out of it but it's still throwing up the same error. If anybody has a working OEM unit lying about that they want shot of then please get in touch. I really don't want to be fitting aftermarket or a GROM as I prefer the factory look, personally. I don't mind replacing it with the newer top loading one providing the connections are the same. Many thanks. B)

Never watched the MOT on my IS200 so don't know whether they tested it or not. I remember when I had my Firebird done a few years ago and the tester didn't want to put it on the rollers. Although I think this may have been more to do with him wanting to take it up the road instead!

Think you'll find Redstuff even dustier still. I'm running those on my other car and the wheels get filthy after a week or so.