is200 Newbie

My thoughts exactly Jonas

I am just curious as to what benefit you would have by having a full stamped main dealer service book. I don't know what mileage your car is at - mine is currently at 75k and I cant see what value it would add to my car if I sold it at this point with a fully stamped book, it currently does until June but I wont be carrying it on. I do the services myself and plan to keep the car for a few years so I will be looking at a mileage of around 100k by the time I come to sell - would a fully stamped service book matter by then?. I don't think it would if it was a private sale as the mileage would put people off the car regardless of whether it was serviced or not - possibly be the same for a px I don't know.. It depends what you want from the car - I service mine as I like to do it and I know the parts are good that go into it (oil / fluids etc) and it also saves thousands in organising the repairs / services yourself which I have already experienced.

Is it right you have a 2009 model ---- that's an unbelievably short life from an interior ..

GME - These were the LE model (Limited Edition) wheels for the IS200 (possibly 300 also) from 2004 / 05 ... they still corrode like a bugger

Good range of analogies from all ... Anyone think peoples perception of a "high miler" has changed over the years as most of these cars, especially the MK1 IS's are closing the gap on 100k and still running strong. I think the more people realise the mileage is not really relevant on these cars then the more they will be sought after. People who have been in mine have certainly done a double take on the mileage vs the ride quality.

AUX in jack socket under the armrest Does anyone know if this will work ... 3.5mm jack cable terminated with a female USB socket - in this socket can the audio system recognise a USB stick if its plugged in to this lead?

Will be interesting to find out ... also is it possible to lock your keys in the car if you use the door handle button to lock it?

Nice job

I have been routing around on ebay tonight and found a seller selling these wheels - they are not mine - they are the Aero style alloys which are very hard to find. Someone must be looking for a set ...? ebay item number 261390151420

Doing the work is easy but I guess if you are doing it for the first time its a bit "scary" I started on my is200 - the car is easy to work on for the most part - spark plugs were a bit fiddly just beacause of where they are situated. I have bought the folding mirror mod but with the weather as it is I haven't had the time to fit it yet. Think it will be worth it though. Hiring of the bays is a good idea .... nothing like that round here though.

Those prices are ridiculous - cant these be done yourself? I have recently done all this work ... oil change with filter costs £40 doing yourself with OEM parts (you need a special tool for the filter if you don't have one) and you are doing this knowing what oil is going in (Magnatec 5/30) - include £7 for an engine flush and you are still quids in ! spark plugs £80 - time consuming job but definitely not £550 worth front brake pads and discs (brembo) £120 doing it yourself - takes approx. half hour per side rear brake pads £30 doing it yourself - takes approx. 15 mins per side. Beauty about doing the brakes yourself is that you can check and grease the slide pins which I believe is not included in any service schedule which will save you a lot of money in the long run replacing seized calipers. I think doing jobs like these yourself gives you an understanding of the car ... Only problem you have in doing it yourself is that you get your hands dirty.

Seems odd that only a few cars will do this - do you have the ML system fitted to yours - maybe a process of elimination if others experiencing the noise can answer this one as to whether they have the system or not and are experiencing the noise Having worked in the plastic industry for over 20 years I know a bit about plastics and would not have thought that plastic could expand that much to create the sound experienced (I have to say I haven't actually heard it but from the description of the noise it sounds severe) - plastic will expand and contract under heat but to make a sound like that being experienced it must either be under a lot of tension or being buckled or expanding to a point where its springing back on another part. Either way its expanding a lot to make this sound as the heat required would be more than that required to deform the plastic Have a go at re-directing the heat to the vents or the footwell and see if you can narrow the sound down to a certain point.

Does the "crack" sound only happen once while the heating system is on? or does it happen a few times while the car is in use?

Aircon will have a big effect on fuel usage, also a small drain in performance. I was using Sainsburys fuel as we have a local garage (just for the convenience) Miles around town not too good but motorway fine. I used the Shell V power on last fill up and miles around town and motorway were both good. I had the 360 miles out of what the computer expected when filled up. Not too sure on what effect having the heater on will do

I may be wrong but different supplier fuels have different results on mileage - such as Shell vs Asda for example Brakes binding / air con on / lights / exhaust / heater / tyre pressures etc are all contributing factors

Glad you have your car sorted (ish) just out of curiosity did any of the airbags go off?

Its the 4x4 model - pretty awesome sound, SS decat exhaust and moves like hell. Had a look through web - not a lot around and the ones that are available are high miles, don't know if they are quite as reliable at 70k plus. Getting a bit fed up of the 250 ... thought I would never say that, fed up of tip toeing around it wondering what else is on its way out on the car, spend quite a bit on it so far and wondering where the next spend will be. Will leave until the summer to decide as I have just taxed it, MOT is in April so that will be the deciding factor.

Friend brought his 2007 Mazda 6 MPS around this morning - very nice car Tempting....

Have you considered sticking or seized brake calipers?

Water should be moving round the system which is an indication your water pump is working fine - when cold I would not expect it to gush out but when hot I would expect it to do so. I think the heat kind of pressurises the system to some extent - hence the need for an expansion tank. The expansion tank would act as a "breather" as you can see that on the cap you have two hoses - one connected to the system and the other free so any air in the system or over pressure will be bled through this tank through the hose. Is your breather pipe in the expansion tank blocked? I would have thought that if the system was creating too much pressure then something would need to give. Also if you look at the expansion tank cap it will blow quite easily if any pressure was present, its only a push on cap. Could the wrong coolant have been put in at some point? Think of a kettle when its on - where does the pressure go when its starting to get hot - pushed through the spout as steam - Your system will be pressurised to a point but when hot - if you want to check this then take the rad cap off when hot but be very careful as it will be hot and will spurt out. If your head gasket was leaking then you should see some signs of this. Oil level high / coolant low (coolant in oil) Oil creamy like mayo Coolant overly discoloured (oil in coolant) Oil level low / Coolant high (oil in coolant) No coolant or low coolant (no heating in car) No coolant or low coolant (car overheating) No oil or low oil (car overheating) Wet oil stains on the outer head casing.

... also - I cant see what good this will do as everyone has recommended I top the system up with the proper coolant for this car, recommended by Lexus so personally, I would not like to add this to the system.

I would have thought you would have either oil spots in your coolant or a creamy sludge on the oil if you had a HG problem. The coolant should be red (pinkish) I had the gurgling on mine recently - I found out that the expansion tank was empty - I topped it up over two days and while doing so I was squeezing the inlet / outlet coolant hoses until I could see the level changing in the tank. This got rid of the air for me. There was no pressure present when I was doing this, even with the engine on.

Has this last month - no heat from the heater and I also had the gurgling noise which I had for a while but thought it was normal - checked coolant in the expansion tank and there was none. Don't know where it went but since top up it has been fine (2 weeks on)

Might not be related but have you checked your coolant level?

Wow - Good find.