Peter_1879

I ended up having a new raditator fitted. The leak was indeed in an obscure place, Im guessing it slowly leaked without me ever noticing any water underneath the car. The plus side is I've found an excellent garage in the Leeds area that I can use from now on and I've no other damage to the car (touch wood). Cheers

I've had the AA out. Chap reckons the radiator has gone.... if anyone is interested !

Hi All, I had an interesting drive home from work today... Initally I heard a weird popping sound from behind the dashboard and then noticed my engine was overheating. Over the course of the journey the temp returned to normal then overheated 3-4 times before finally the malfunction light came on and the TRC OFF light started flashing. I got home and turned the car off and when I turned it on again, roughly 30 mins later, it started but the temp was immediately half way up the dial. The TRC OFF light has gone back to off but the engine malfunction light came on. Anyone have any ideas? Additionally I have very little technical knowlegde so I am wondering if the car will be safe to drive to the dealership tomorrow? (Its closer than any reputable garages I know of) Cheers Peter

Thanks for the feedback and apologies for the delay in replying to your posts. The garage reset the warning light on Friday and as of yet it hasn't reappeared. I'll look into getting one of these code readers from ebay. Can anyone recommend a model/make that I would need to buy? Once I have that I'll be able to determine what the code is. If it does reappear I might ask the dealership to take a look at it as I am not keen on the idea of simply ignoring the warning light.

I don't suppose you have a link to one or can recommend a type that would work with my IS200? Cheers I'm guessing they're on ebay?

Cheers Steve. I can't obtain the code I'm afraid unless I get myself a code reader. I took it to the same garage and the bloke reset it again for me. He told me to ignore it if the warning light reappears. I presume that there is more than one code for this part? My only problem with ignoring the warning light is that it sort of defeats the point of having a warning light there in the first place. I'm tempted to book it into the dealership and ask them but I half suspect that they'd rip me off at the first opportunity as the Leeds dealership doesn't have a great reputation.

The malfunction light on the Dash came on the other day and the garage next to my office was kind enough to hook it up and read the error code for free. The chap told me that the warning code was for the catalytic converter but if he had done an MOT there and then it would have sailed through the test. He reset the parameters and the error code went away. However, today (4 days after it first appeared) the warning light has returned. Ironcially this happened at exactly the same point on my journey to work roughly 4 miles into a 20 mile joureny. Assuming that the warning light is for the same reason and my catalytic converter is fine how do I go about preventing the warning light from returning? Presumably there is some sort of sensor that triggers the warning? Would this need to be replaced? Any feedback or ideas on the above would be appreciated. Cheers

Update: It turns out that the 98-01 wing mirror was completely useless. Different wiring and connector. I managed to get a 04 wing mirror from a scrap yard near Leeds and that one is fitted so its worked out in the end. I guess I can stick the older model wing mirror on ebay.

I have managed to get a wing mirror on ebay that matches the paint code of my car. However when I took the cap off had three screws and on my model it doesn't appear to fit, i.e. there are no holes or groves for the screws to go in. Have I ordered an incorrect part? I was told on ebay that it was an 03 model the same as mine. Any ideas on what to do? Is there any point in trying to replace the wing mirror as hole unit if its a different model. Ideally I don't want to have to start messing around with the door panel and what have you

Hi Steve, Car is 03 IS200 and colour is blue code 8N8 Cheers

Got winged tonight driving home. Good news is that the wing mirror is still intact and the up, down, left, right movement still works. Bad news is that the cover smashed off and is presumably shattered at the side of the road (it is a small road with no pavement so wasn't safe to stop and see if it survived). The glass also shattered but I have managed to find replacement wing mirror glass on ebay. Anyone know where the best place to get a cover is? I have looked on ebay and I can only see full mirrors for £35-50 for sale. I'm not sure I want to pay that much when it could be a different shade of blue (I'm not sure if there is many different shades) Cheers

Nice looking IS mate. Did the car handle and move ok in that snow? Are you auto or manual? I bought a set of winter tyres for my IS (auto) and I haven't really driven it in snow yet. I took a work from home day today so don't really know what to expect from the white stuff! How does the car handle on ice?

Thanks for quick reponse mate. Any idea how long they'd take to turn around (appreciate this will depend on the work involved) as leaving the car there would be a bit of a pain.

Anyone recommend somewhere in the Leeds area that does alloy refurbs. Mine could do with a touch up and I have a front offside alloy that has a fair bit of damage to one section. Cheers in advance Car is IS200 03 plate.

Evening all. Can anyone recommend an alloy refurb place in the Leeds area? Have quite a bad curb mark on my front right that could do with a repair and wouldn't mind getting the others polished up a bit. Cheers

Thanks for the feedback. I'd look to be able to stuff myself but I'm a total noob when it comes to cars. I can fill the water jets and change the windscreen wipers or head light bulbs but that is where my skill level stops. Re the spark plugs - would they be changed during a normal service? I've never asked for them to be changed and have only had the car for about 18 months so don't know if they were done before that.

Hi All, Got a call tonight from the Lexus dealership offering me a "major service" for £249 and a MOT for further £55. The MOT is due at the back end of march so it must have come up on their records. My IS200 is an 03 plate and has about 85K miles on the clock. Last year I got it serviced and MOT at my old man's mates garage. Timing belt change, service and MOT cost about £300. I think a service and MOT there would set me back about £120-£150 max. Question is will there be any noticeable benefit from paying double and getting it done at the dealers? According to the service history its last two services (including the one above) have not been at a dealer. Cheers Peter

Thanks for that link Dave, bookmarked. I had a closer look today and it turns out I just needed to twist the power cable connector counter clockwise and it came straight out. Changed it in about 2 minutes.

Hi all, Are there any online guides for changing the headlight bulb on the IS200? Specifically the side light as I noticed my nearside sidelight bulb has gone. I used to drive a mondeo and changing the headlight bulbs on that were a right chew on as you had to remove the front grill to get it out. Any links etc that anyone knows of? Cheers Peter

I went for the Falken FK-452 for mine a while back. Very happy with them, well as happy as tyres can make you I should add...

I went with the Falken FK-452. They are champion and handle very well in the wet as well.

Do you mean the Falken FK-452?? Same website has them for sale at £89.

Thanks for all the responses. I've made a few notes and will look into costs and report back! edit - found Falken Ziex ZE-912 on blackcircles.com (they have a fitting centre round the corner) for £76. Are these any good? I don't really thrash my car about so I'm guessing I won't notice much difference from the Pirelli's (which are down to about 3mm of tread).

Evening all. I will soon need to replace the tyres on my IS200. Currently have a set of Pirelli P2000's on. What are other people using and are there any recommendations to combine value with quality? Cheers

Thanks for the replies guys. The old Mondeo was a FWD. Thankfully my job allows me to work from home if needed so if I wake up to 2-3 inches of snow I don't plan on driving. This weekend I plan to buy a shovel and a bag of rock salt to leave in the boot in the event I ever get caught in snow. Hopefully this winter won't be as bad as last year!