Optica

Hello all. Seems like all the above is bolxxx, someone advised looking at the vvt filter so i did (very clean) and also looked at the solinoid which was free, However, I made the mistake of disconnecting the battery also and now that the problem has not returned I can't say which had an effect. Gave the car to my son and replaced it with a wolf in sheep's clothing, 303HP GS350,...GRIN......... Regards Malcolm

Thanks John. They seem to feature on US sites commonly, I would have preferred UK comments though. Shall be importing from Japan into NZ as red ones are a hard to find here, 2 out of 50 on Trade me and all in the North island (I'm in the South). Regards Malcolm

I'm about the buy a GS350 and am dismayed to find no reference to them anywhere in these forums, am I looking in the wrong place? Are they that good that they never go wrong. Regards Malcolm

Solved (Well, probably) After a bit of thinking and talking with a friendly mechanic we decided the loss of vacuum caused the engine to run lean thus increasing the RPM and causing the computer to dither. Happened again today, the change in engine behaviour was noticeable now that I was on the look out for it, so, it looks like a booster replacement/service . Have to say it fixed itself after a few minutes. Years ago I had a strange loss of power on an SD1 and after a very long time, whilst fiddling in the engine bay i re-noticed when opening the throttle a bit the engine canted on the mountings which in turn pulled on the vacuum pipe at the booster thus letting in air - mixture went very lean causing loss of power until the pipe resealed itself - fixed with a hose clip. Regards Malcolm

Greetings. On startup lately a faint tremble was felt, and idle rpm a bit high, now idle getting to 2000 and rough, no lights show, also the footbrake lost its power assist, (never came across where brakes had a connection with engine) other than vaccuum. Got home and it died but started again, bit loath going anywhere, suspect O2 sensor/s. Be glad if anyone can shed some light. FYI large chip used on NZ roads (Aufull noise) produced 86Db (cell phone app) so I found a noise reducing material (seems to have 3 layers) - noise now 65DB, nearly civilised. Regards Malcolm

Gretings . Nothing to do with snow, all it does is modify the power curve ie less power for the same throttle movement, brilliant device in traffic, if you want power sw it off and if more power still! "use the pwr button." Regards Malcolm

Greetings. Visit the local model shop where you will be able to buy a C/A (Cyanoacrylate) specially made for plastics, however as the man says reenforce it with another bit of something underneth, engineering shops will probably carry a Locktite or similar to do the same job Regards Malcolm Ps Commonly called super glue

Greetings. If you have 1mm run out the rotor is history, anything over a few thou is too much, mine had 2thou on one and 7 on the other, new rotors - problem solved. Regards Malcolm

Greetings again. Hi Steve, no, only an OLD amateur who up to now did his own repairs, however getting off the ground is now not so easy and modern cars seem to need a degree in computer science to fix . Clifton, the bushes came from Repco, probably the equivelent to Halfords, don't know if they are Toyota or after market, only the material matters, urethane is much harder than rubber and is subsequently harder riding but better wearing and more precise. Regards Malcolm

Greetings. Since buying my IS200 the steering seemed not very precise in that I had the impresion of chasing it as it wandered a bit, always making very small corrections, not like my Celica, which is a delight to drive, as though on rails, (terrrible road noise though) and from time to time the car shuddered under braking so after putting up with it for a quite a while it had to be fixed. First the radius arm bushes were changed using urethane bushes, that fixed the wandering, but still shuddered. Quite nice to drive now. Second I measured the run out of the front discs and found the nearside 7.5thou out and the offside 3.5thou, changed the discs, problem solved. I had also checked the slide pins which were OK, surprised at how cheap the discs are ($50 NZ ea). Had an SD1 which had the very same shuddering and the disc run out was also 7thou out. Hard to equate these VERY small measurments with such a violent effect. Regards Malcolm

Thanks chaps. Just thought someone may have had the same gripes at some time. On reflection, it may be that the cooling fan may not be standard, my last car (An SD1 gas gobbler had a Jag fan fitted and that was a bit more growly than the Rover one). I think I'll just have to live with the throttle as It's probably a problem with the ECU or the throttle body but as It's not broke (yet) I'll not fix it. Of interest, when I got the car it held onto the lower gears but disconnecting the battery now has it changing up much sooner so It's gone from brisk and probably thirsty to sluggish and thrifty, however, seeing as I'm in charge of the gearbox that's not a problem, I think the last fellow had a lead foot and installed some bad habits in the ECU. I'm impressed by the fuel consumption, on the purchase trip of some 400miles at our miserable 100Km/H it showed 38 and a bit MPG. a pleasant change from the Rovers 22MPG Regards Malcolm

Greetings. Just acquired an 2000 IS200 and wonder is there is some way of making the engine sound quieter, the low growl is nice but soon gets wearisome, a murmuring swosh would be more desirable, I'm told it could be induction noise, any way round this? Also is there any way to reduce the throttle response, It's far too touchy when moving off, tried disconnecting the battery to reset things, didn't work. Regards Malcolm