johnatg

Spot-on advice from Allan. Only thing I would add is to make sure you check the rear faces of the discs as well as the front faces and check the condition of the rubber boots on the slide pins. At 7 years old they are likely to be quite deteriorated. Be careful when undoing the slide pins/bolts - if the rubber boots are stuck to them you can destroy the boot as you undo them. Gently unstick the boots if necessary with a bit of manipulation first. A potential problem you might come across - in my original post I blithely said 'rotate the (rear) caliper to clear the disc'. If the lower pin for the caliper (which goes into a blind hole) is seized, it can be very difficult or impossible to rotate it. There's a good post from Jack Cramer a while back on how he freed his up. And get hold of a workshop manual if you plan to work on the car yourself. They are available on eBay (they come on a CD). That will show you how everything fits together, torque settings for nuts and bolts, etc.

Sorry - complete red herring! Just went and checked - I mistook the child seat anchor points (which I also have never used) for some sort of recliner! (hangs head in shame!!)

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That'll be Hire Purchase. It means the records show that the previous owner has not cleared his debt with the finance company, and the finance company may therefore still have a claim on the car. It may well be that the records haven't kept up with payments made by the previous owner, but you MUST get confirmation that the debt has been cleared before proceeding.

I don't think that sounds like a wheel bearing. Possibly seized brake caliper (slider bolt) or worn out brake pad? Can you feel heat from the disc on that side, maybe more than the other? Brakes always feel hot after a run, but look for something excessive!

Oops! No, it's not. From Yahoo Finance: <Quote> Toyota is recalling more than 1.4 million cars worldwide over faulty airbags. The recall affects 2010-2012 hybrid Prius and Lexus CT200h cars. <End quote>

Is this what the airbag recall is all about? From BBC News website this morning: <Quote> Japanese carmaker Toyota says it will recall 1.43 million vehicles worldwide over faulty airbags. The cars affected are Prius and Lexus models from 2008 to 2012. Toyota and other carmakers have over the past years been rocked by millions of recalls over problems with airbags from Japanese supplier company Takata. The latest recall does not involve Takata products and the problem has not been linked to any fatalities or injuries. The recall includes some 495,000 cars sold in North America, 743,000 in Japan as well as vehicles in Europe, China and other regions. 'Risk of injury' In a statement relating to the US recall, the carmaker said the vehicles had an airbag inflator that could have a small crack in a weld which could widen over time. The airbag could partially inflate and parts of the inflator could enter the vehicle interior, leading to "an increased risk of injury". Safety devices made by Takata have been linked to 11 deaths and more than 100 injuries. Globally, 12 carmakers have been affected with more than 100 million Takata-related recalls under way or expected. <End quote>

Another follow up from the safety recall topic - my visual safety inspection report recommended that my tyres needed replacing. They were by no means illegal, but pretty well worn and I was planning early replacement anyway. I considered various choices and came up with one I haven't seen mentioned here. There seem to be a category of tyres just now characterised by a superficially simple tread pattern, rather wide circumferential grooves and excellent 'tyre label' ratings (not that I set much store by them) of C for fuel economy, A for wet grip and generally less than 70dB for external noise. Typical tyres like this are Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance and Dunlop Sport BluResponse. But there's also the Avon ZV7 - only introduced this year and some sizes are still not available. They are way cheaper than the Dunlops and Goodyears - I bought 4 (2 x 225/45, 2 x 245/45, 17" rims) from cartyres.com for less than £300 - they seem to be Halfords, or at least all their fitting centres are Halfords Autocentres - never thought I'd buy tyres from them, but none of the local regular tyre fitters could match their prices. (BTW - Lexus quoted £540 (not for Avons)) I've not personally had much experience of Avon tyres - my daughter had ZV5 on her Mazda3 and they seemed fine. Avon have a good reputation - tyres made in UK and they are suppliers to Rolls Royce and Aston Martin. So - we shall see how they perform and wear! Not really been any long journeys yet, but they seem quiet and comfortable.

You could ask a dealer or try and find a IS250 brochure for 2008 (check eBay). Or failing that, try here: http://www.liquidleather.com/pages/colour-mixing They don't stock Lexus colours but they could match from a small sample.

I think it's just the passenger side - at least for now. Personal opinion - there have been vanishingly few deaths and injuries caused by malfunctioning airbags, yet many, many people must have been saved from death or injury during the course of this saga by Takata airbags working perfectly well. So I think it's better left on.

It's potentially more serious than even that. To quote from the linked article below 'The issue involves defective inflator and propellent devices that may deploy improperly in the event of a crash, shooting metal fragments into vehicle occupants'. Here's the link to a (very long) article from US mag Car & Driver about it: http://blog.caranddriver.com/massive-takata-airbag-recall-everything-you-need-to-know-including-full-list-of-affected-vehicles/

You may well be correct - I changed the pads last time (and it was almost certainly the first change). As the front faces of the discs looked to be in pretty good nick I probably didn't check the inner faces as carefully as I should have. But it still begs the question - what is the mechanism for clean front faces but corroded back faces?

That would explain corrosion on the outer disc face - piston pushes pad into inner face, caliper doesn't slide - hence corrosion on the outer face. But it doesn't explain corrosion on the inner face - the piston should push the pad into the disc and keep that face clean - even if the sliders were stuck. If the piston was sticking, not pushing the pad into the disc nothing would happen and both faces would be corroded. The piston slid in and out easily - compressed inwards with a G clamp and out by gentle brake pedal pressure. My sliders weren't sticking - the outer disc faces were perfectly clean, but the inner faces were corroded. (Actually probably not badly enough to affect brake force much). And both discs were identically corroded (I only photographed one - you can see it in the link in the first post in the topic) There's a garage proprietor writes in 'Car Mechanics' every month about interesting jobs in his garage - usually fairly mundane, but interesting nonetheless. It is not uncommon for him to mention a case of inside face disc corrosion. More theories, please!

When changing pads, you don't need to replace discs if they are OK - which means thickness greater than 8.5mm (that's for solid - I think yours will be vented and there's a different spec for them), they are not too scored and above all, that there is no corrosion on the faces. In particular, it's easy to miss corrosion on the inner face - unless you take the disc off it's really quite hard to see the whole of the inner face. I hadn't spotted that mine were quite corroded (and both were identical) and I think the MoT tester in November hadn't noticed it either. I am sure they must have been corroded then. If in doubt, replace! You should replace pads if replacing discs, regardless of wear on the pads.

I've edited the first post in this topic to add a note about rear discs and to add the step of undoing the top caliper support pin and cleaning and greasing the pins. I think it's complete now!

If gear changes have started to get more noticeable it can be a sign that the transmission fluid needs changing or at least refreshing with a simple drain (which only removes 1.5 litres (out of 7.2 lites) and top up. Maybe that should be done two or three times to get reasonable renewal/refreshment. Or it could be some sort of fault - or your imagination!

You need to set the brake shoes so that they are very close to, but not touching, the drum, to get the appropriate amount of travel on the parking brake pedal/lever. As you turn the adjuster the top claw, which engages with the top shoe, winds in or out of the body of the adjuster. Obviously you have to do this with the disc/drum in place so it's a bit like dentistry through a keyhole. You turn the adjuster with a screwdriver against the teeth until the shoes bear hard on the drum at which point you can't turn the adjuster any more and the disc is locked. As the shoes are floating, they centralise themselves in the drum. Now you back off the adjuster by 7 clicks, or notches on that toothed wheel - it clicks against the spring. Now check that the shoes are not binding on the drum. (This is not that easy as you have to turn the transmission, or at least the diff. as it's connected to the rear wheel, so it is a bit hard to turn the disc anyway. It helps to use a lever against the wheel studs). Then you check that the pedal travel is 7-9 clicks (on the ratchet). If it isn't, there is further adjustment available at the cable end at the top of the pedal

Yes! And to turn the wheel when fiddling with the adjuster etc you need the car to be in 'Neutral' rather than 'Park'

Those of you following the 'Safety Recall' topic will have noticed that 'corroded rear discs' is a recurring theme in the visual safety inspection report. In my own case, they said 'Urgently required - rear calipers seized, discs corroded, pads worn - replacement estimate £530' So when I got home I checked myself and agreed that the discs and pads needed replacement but there was absolutely nothing wrong with the calipers - sliders were smooth and free and the piston moved in and out easily. I ordered these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/310945970419?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EBC-UltiMAX-Rear-Brake-Pads-for-LEXUS-IS250-2-5-2005-/311494286662?hash=item4886819d46:g:mxcAAOSwA4dWNfkY Total cost £54.64. Make sure you order the correct discs and pads - these are solid discs - most IS models 2007- use vented rear discs. And 2013- pads are different (and cheaper). Here's the work: Remove the wheel, then remove the guide pin retention spring - you can see that peeking out to the right of the outer pad. It locates in holes in the pins. http://tinyurl.com/ho4bwkn Now remove the pins - mine were quite well stuck and needed some gentle tapping to extract them, recover the anti-squeal spring and winkle the pads out. They come out fairly easily but you may need to use a screwdriver in their holes to lever them out a little at a time. The inner pad (right) shows the effect of corrosion on the disc - it has worn away the pad on both outer and inner edges http://tinyurl.com/hwos25n Now remove the top caliper support pin (/bolt) and rotate the caliper out of the way of the disc. Note that you need to ensure that both the bottom pin and top pin are clean and greased prior to reassembly. The trickiest part of the whole operation is locating and turning the parking brake adjuster - actually, because this brake is not used when the vehicle is moving (much!) the shoe linings should not be worn and there should be no significant lip on the bell, so you can usually remove the disc without backing off the adjuster. To remove the disc screw a M8 bolt into the threaded holes provided (if it won't just pull off by hand). http://tinyurl.com/za28lsc Now clean up the parking brake shoes etc with brake cleaner. You can see the adjuster and how it works. The bottom fork has a pin which turns freely in the body and the top fork is threaded into the body. The adjuster is located at the 3 o'clock position on the left hand side (nearside) and at 9 o'clock on the right (offside). You will need to adjust the parking brake at the end of the job - the adjuster is a bit to the outside of the bell relative to the hole and you turn the notched wheel with a screwdriver towards the front of the car (on both sides - the right hand adjuster has a left hand thread) to expand the shoes and towards the back to contract them. http://tinyurl.com/zvswmvy Comparison of the old and new discs - corrosion has set in from both the inner and outer edges of the back face of the old disc. Why this happens is beyond me - you would think that as the inner pad is in contact with the caliper piston, it at least would be pressed against the disc and keep it clean. But it doesn't - and it happens with most cars, that the inner disc face suffers more than the outer. When inspecting brakes you need to remove the pads and take a good look at the inner disc face! http://tinyurl.com/jdxd5wh Nothing much wrong with the outer disc face. http://tinyurl.com/gottv2x Reassemble with the new discs and pads and adjust the parking brake as above. You screw up the adjuster until the disc is locked, then back off 7 clicks and check the footbrake (/handbrake) operation - it should go down 7-9 clicks) There are two shims on each pad and the inner one should be coated with brake or copper grease on both sides. You should check the run out of the disc with a dial indicator, but I must admit to just doing a visual check that the disc was running true. (I always check front discs with a dial indicator though) And job's a good'un! http://tinyurl.com/zw5kx8g Although I use Redstuff pads on the front, I reckon that Ultimax pads are OK on the rear because the rear brakes don't do much and there's really no danger of fade. They probably will wear more quickly than normal as Redstuff need higher pedal pressures, but Redstuff rear pads are a silly price. Overall, this is an easy job which should take no more than 30 minutes per side, even with time for cleaning the caliper etc.. It took me quite a while as I took the opportunity to power wash the underside of the car and change the brake fluid as well.

However careful you are, sooner or later a kerb will get you. If it's just a touch it's usually not too difficult to repair. Sometimes just sanding down any roughness and repainting will work - if there are chunks missing from the rim you can fill with filler, sand down and repaint. I have a sort of mid-anthracite colour wheels and I found that a mixture of Halfords steel wheel paint and Peugeot Dark Grey produces a good match - I squirt equal amounts into an aerosol can lid and use a brush. You should be able to find more or less matching paint whatever colour you have. Not a perfect job, but you have to examine the wheels really carefully to spot the repairs. If there's a really serious rim damage get advice from a wheel or tyre specialist.

They put 4 or 5 gallons in mine. Make sure you leave space!

The video is about 5 minutes long. I'd guess they might spend 15 minutes or so on the safety check. They washed and vacuumed it too - that must have taken another 20 minutes or so. I don't suppose they started work on it the instant I took it in, then it took me 30 minutes or so to drive in to collect it after they'd told me it was ready. They said the recall thing takes about 4 hours. All kinda adds up, if the recall work time is true.

They had the car for about 5½ hours total. They didn't ask for the wheel key - it was just in the glove box anyway - but I'm certain they didn't take the wheels off - and they don't need to for changing plugs (or for the sensor recall). They did put the car on the ramp to do the safety inspection - I don't think there's any ulterior motive (except for it being a marketing ploy) - quite a valuable service really. It's not easy to do a proper inspection underneath on your drive unless you have a lift. The video was personalised and of my car, just pointing out this and that - positive (eg the exhaust, tie rods, shock absorbers and springs etc were fine) and negative. They were right about the tyres and rear brakes (except that how they could diagnose that the calipers were seized (which they weren't) from a visual inspection is a bit beyond me). They said that the pads were unevenly worn, but actually they were pretty even - just damned thin! It is very hard to see the inner pad with wheels and caliper in place. I think that it's very unlikely we'll get the engine rebuild - don't think it would be judged a safety issue and that's all that the UK authorities are worried about. In the US they are much more into emissions issues and I suspect that's what the rebuild is all about. (The only exception I've seen to that I think is the VW diesel issue - I wonder if the UK people will start to take more interest in emissions during the lifetime of a car rather than just at the type approval stage)

Oh - and if you're getting a courtesy car, you need a code like you're hiring a car. I didn't have it, of course, but then they need your driving licence number and your NI number - fortunately I just happen to be able to reel that off, so the service guy could get the code at his desk

I'm a bit reticent about posting a link to the video, firstly because it shows my reg and secondly because I might be embarrassed! But basically they take you round the car underneath, commenting on tyres, wheels, brake discs and pads, bottom ball joints and their boots, the exhaust system, shock absorbers and springs, saying things like 'this is fine', 'slight damage to wheel rims', 'non-Lexus standard front discs', 'tyres worn to x mm' (with an electronic depth gauge in view) and so on. Very interesting! - but clearly a marketing ploy!