johnatg

But read a bit further and they say 'Go for the IS250 2.5 SE'

All these engine start up noises seem to occur as an oil change becomes 'due'. In inverted commas, because I think it's when an oil change is long overdue! Guys, manufacturers' service intervals are designed to be 'just adequate' for fleet users, to minimise service costs which are a major part of fleet running costs (and I suppose individual owners' running costs if they use the dealer service network). They will enable the car to safely reach 100K miles - and they don't care what happens after that. As a rule of thumb, change your oil at half the manufacturer oil change intervals - and use engine flush at every oil change. It reduces gum in the oil passages - I believe the noises emanate from parts fed by narrow channels or with small relief holes - especially hydraulic valve lifters and VVT mechanisms. It also helps to preserve timing chains - they stretch and wear when subjected to long oil change intervals and you don't want to know how much it costs to replace the (three) chains on an IS250. If you can, learn to do the oil change yourself - 6 and a bit litres of decent oil can be bought for not much more than £20 - I use GM Dexos2, available on Ebay in 10 and 20 litre quantities for bargain prices (buy the ones that come with the hologram on the label and the multi-language booklet on the back - some others are alleged to be fake). Engine flush (it doesn't really matter which you use - they all do more or less the same job) costs a fiver or so. A genuine Lexus filter costs about £10 and you can buy the tool you need to remove the filter cover for less than £20 (don't try and compromise with a normal cup filter remover or the various universal ones - Lexus oil filter covers can be very tight, even though the torque setting is only 18ftlbs). There you go - £35 all in. If you can't do it yorself - and I know it's hard if you live in a flat or have no driveway - go to a small independent garage (or if you must, Kwik Fit) for an intermediate oil change between dealer services. All my personal opinion - and if you want your car to last and be trouble free!

Yes - I always use Shell Vpower Nitro. I didn't for a while when I first got the car but for the last year or so I have and I reckon I get about 3mpg - about 10% better fuel consumption. Since VPower costs about 8p per litre more than regular Shell which is say 128p or 129p per litre at the mo - that's 6% more. So it may well be a good deal (slightly) financially. But Vpower also is claimed to clean the fuel system (including injectors) and it may burn cleaner which might help to reduce carbon build up on the valve stems (but that might also be down to oil or basic design, which is another subject altogether) So no minuses for Vpower and possibly some pluses. I don't really have experience of extended running with other brands but I did once refuel with BP Ultimate. Made no differnce to the car for 1 tank and not full, but it's 13p or so a litre more - so I don't use BP garages unless I'm desperate! Incidentally, my friend with a diesel Merc (E class, 1998 or so) was complaining about rough running. I recommended he try Diesel VPower - he's never looked back! Says it completely transformed the car - much smoother running and more power than he'd experienced for years!

Patience is the first thing you need! I think I've only ever seen two on the road (+ one on TV in 'Last Tango in Halifax'!) Going by the figures on howmanyleft.co.uk, Cs are about 10x rarer than saloons although from sightings I would say fewer than that. I guess check everything mentioned on various threads here for saloons, plus that the top works properly and smoothly, has no damage and that there's no damage in the boot and roof stowage space. I have an old MX-5 but the hood on that is fairly cheap and easy to replace and there are no electrics, so not very relevant really! Good luck!

Just an aside - batteries are classified by code number as far as dimensions and terminal orientaion at least are concerned. You can find charts of specs with a Google search. IS250s (at least 2006 models) need a 068 battery - 260mm x 173mm x 225mm and orientation so that when the terminals are adjacent to the bulkhead -ve is against the inner wing, +ve toward the engine. This is a rare battery and not many places you roll up to will have it in stock. (It doesn't even feature on some manufacturers' lists) There are several close alternatives - but they won't fit properly, although they may do the job. On the spot battery fitters will fob you off with the closest match they have available. You also need the battery to have adequate capacity - 70amp hours, 630 CCA (Cold Cranking Amps). (I think the CCA spec may actually be somewhat less than this) I have found that Lexus battery terminals have a propensity to slip off - upwards off the terminal post. If you just tighten up normally, you may find that with an upward pull on the terminal the clamp will just pull up right off the post. What I do is tap the clamp down very gently with a light hammer and a socket big enough to push on the clamp but to clear the post. Then tighten - then tap, tighten, tap, tighten and so on - but don't overdo it! Needs experience to know when it's correct I guess. But check carefully that it's tight. I swear by Bosch batteries - always fit them when I need a replacement. When I bought my IS a couple of years ago it had a one year old Unipart battery. It was useless (kept losing charge) - I replaced it with a Bosch S4026 from CarParts4less - they are Euro Car Parts under a different name but cheaper! (Usual disclaimer!). No problems since. I don't know if IS220Ds use the same spec (diesel cars often have bigger batteries than the petrol equivalent) or if the same battery size fits other years of IS250. Do your own research!

The other day I discovered that my nearside foglight was loose - turns out that some previous owner numpty had broken the side of it where there's a bolt to lock it in to the bumper moulding (probably in trying to change the bulb) To get at it, I had to remove the bumper. Anyway I fixed it with araldite and filler and took the opportunity to clean up the bulb entry area etc (ally corrosion around the bulb holder) In doing this, I noticed that there is an access hatch in the undertray just under the nearside (left hand) foglight. (actually, my hatch was missing but I made a new one with ally mesh and filler). But - there isn't a matching hatch on the offside. The only way to access the rear of the right hand foglight is to remove (or at least loosen a substantial section of) the bumper. Can anyone offer a plausible explanation as to why there's a nearside hatch but no offside one?

That (G's post) is probably wise. Ideally, 255 tyres should be fitted to 9" rims. 245 section is the max recommended for 8" rims - the ideal section is 225/235. 255 is the maximum for 8½" rims But it's true that narrower tyres potentially expose your rims to the possibility of more curbing damage. One of these days I'm going to fit rim protectors (they're plastic and fit round the edge between wheel and tyre).

The coolant is pressurised in the engine itself (and in the radiator). It's not pressurised in the reservoir. My wife's Seat Mii does have a pressurised reservoir - maybe that;s a VAG or German thing? The unconnected hose is fine - meant to be like that!

The cooling system layout on the IS250 is actually rather unusual. On many cars, there is a pressure cap on the radiator, then a hose takes the expansion (as the engine warms up, and in the reverse direction as it cools) from that to the coolant reservoir and the coolant reservoir itself has an overflow hose. On the IS250 the pressure cap is on the thermostat housing and the hose from there ('engine' in your post) is an 'overflow' (expansion) from the main cooling system to the reservoir (and it's also the route by which coolant flows back into the engine when it cools). The hose which is not connected is the overflow from the reservoir. (So don't worry!) There is no pressure cap on the radiator itself. The reservoir is not under pressure even when the engine is hot. Some cars do have pressurised reservoirs. There is a modern trend to not have a pressure cap on the radiator, but to put it somewhere else - further back. Not having a pressure cap on the radiator allows a lower front bonnet line.

The point is, you must, must, must, set it on recirculate (with the engine running) before changing the filter. Set it back again afterwards!

Yes - that'll be correct. But if you're thinking of the one that's £15.99, why not look at the one from 'autoperformenceonline' (ap motor store). £5.00. Search with TF19066 - but all ap's IS250 parts are under that number. (I use their air filter too - also £5.00). The cabin/pollen filter is what I use - works perfectly well - after all, it doesn't affect the performance of the car! I can't tell any differnce between the genuine Toyota one and the pattern one. And even if you get asthma or hay fever - it's not really going to make that much difference! Don't forget to switch aircon to recirculate!

I'm with the 'best fuel you can get' brigade - and that's Shell VPower Nitro or whatever they call it today. It's all I use in my Lexus and in my MX-5 - that's supercharged and needs 98 octane not to pink. On the odd occasion I can't find a Shell station (it can be tricky in parts of Wales, and not all the Shell stations there sell VPower) I use Octane booster in the Mazda or just buy a small amount of whatever is available for the Lexus. BP Ultimate (97 octane) is almost as good as VPower, but it's really expensive. (usually 13p per litre more, whereas VPower is normally 8p/litre more than 95 octane fuel). I'm convinced that VPower gives better fuel consumption - 3-4 mpg more (say 10%) and for a price premium of about 6.5% on normal fuel that's a pretty good deal.

255 is standard rear width for 18" wheels. According to the handbook, Lexus spec is W speed rating for 16" and 17" wheels and Y for 18". But both are way higher ratings than the car is capable of (unless you've done some very special tuning!) (W - 168mph and Y - 186mph). Very few 245 45 17 (for example) tyres are available in lower speed ratings, although there are some. Front load rating seems to be 90 and rear 95 - again, that's mostly what you get with tyres that size - and Extra Load tyres are usually 94/99. I don't think anyone in UK at least needs to worry about either speed rating or load index - almost any tyre you can buy to fit your wheels will be OK, at least for 17" and above. Remember the speed rating is for 10 minutes sustained on a Texas highway (ie high temperature). And load index likewise is mostly a US thing - and again, at max speed rating on a hot road.

Well, if your originals were 205/55/16, the new ones (rears only significant) are about 43mm bigger diameter - that's about 6.8% and accounts directly for about 3mpg of your apparent loss (and incidentally your speedo will read 6.8% slower than it did for a given speed). (But you will have travelled 6.8% further than your odometer reads) The rest I guess is down to increased rolling resistance - wider and bigger tyres wear more quickly so they must consume (waste!) more energy - maybe! Possibly some effect too from the fact that your gearing is higher, so the engine will need to work harder/consume more fuel during acceleration. Conversly, the engine will be running a bit slower at like for like cruising speed and should be using less fuel - but if you were going by your speedo you will have been going that bit faster, so using more fuel (and it's significant at 70 mph!)

It looks (from reading the service manual) as though you have to remove the headlight - and that means you first have to remove the bumper. The bulb holder fits vertically and it's just forward of the main bulb hatch, but underneath the headlight. It does say in the handbook to take it to a Lexus dealer, whereas instructions are given for the other bulbs. There's supposed to be a law (or directive or something) that all bulbs must be replaceable at the roadside. Widely ignored, obviously!

tyre-shopper.co.uk sell both sizes if those are what you want. (They sell National Tyre tyres - it's also worth checking the National Tyre web site but they are usually more expensive. You order and pay on line with Tyre Shopper and select your nearest Nat Tyre centre for fitting (all included in price you pay. I've found them excellent)). I've got Michelin (can't remember specific tyres) on the front (fitted before I bought the car) and Barum Bravuris 2 on the rear. No problems. Next time I'll probably need to change all 4 and might go for Bravuris 3HM or Avon ZV5.

I think it's not likely that the judder comes from the rear. You could check the rear discs - swing the calipers out of the way and look carefully at both sides of the disc (take the disc off) or use a mirror to check the 'hidden' side. As long as there's no rust on the friction faces and the discs are within minimum thickness spec (8.5mm for solid ones - I don't have the figure for vented) they should be OK. If you can lay your hands on a 50mm micrometer and a dial gauge, it's worth checking the front discs for runout and thickness. (Your standard micrometer is measures to 25mm and the discs are 28mm thick so you need a bigger than usual one). It is possible that it's the pads causing the judder - sometimes they'll wear to a point where they judder for no obvious reason. Maybe try filing the surfaces to remove a layer - it's a bit clutching at straws but it might work! Or live with the judder, but it's irritating to say the least! Good luck!

Did you check the run out of the discs? Absolutely critical - any run out greater than 0.1mm will lead to uneven disc wear, which then causes judder. It's unlikely that the discs have warped - lots of people try to claim under warranty for this and it's almost invariably rejected as the cause is diagnosed as incorrect fitting (ie uneven wear due to too much run out) The run out is measured at the disc edge (preferably with a dial gauge) - it's important to clean the hub face before fitting as even a tiny spec of dirt there will cause an ampified effect at the edge.

What 'natural lubricants'? If you've ever seen the internals of an engine which has not had an oil change for 20K miles or so, you'll know that a hard varnish-like gum forms on many surfaces and black sludge gets deposited in corners. Regular oil changes avoid the sludge, but clearly the gum starts to form soon after an oil change, slowly at first then, when the oil change is neglected, more quickly. New clean oil does dissolve it to some extent but there's going to be some formation even after a couple of thousand miles. Engine flush dissolves the gum, loosens any sludge and reduces the viscosity of the oil, so that more crud is drained out. If an engine is very heavily sludged up, using flush can loosen big lumps which may get trapped in small oil ways, so it may not be a good idea in that case. I find that engines stay cleaner for longer (and we are talking in terms of hundreds of thousands of miles) if flush is used regularly. Also, it's particularly important that engines with hydraulic valve lifters (that's many - most? - engines today and includes IS250) are kept free of gum. It forms in the fine channels in the lifters and causes the characteristic rattle on start up (amongst others, Mk 1 Mazda MX-5s are particularly prone to this - so much so that Mazda reverted to solid lifters with shims for the Mk 2). I have a '92 Mk 1 and it is silent on start up - and it has been flushed at every oil change for the last 22 years (admittedly only 60-odd K miles)

Instant MoT failure! Could be something simple like a wheel sensor (but even they aren't that simple on a Lexus) - or it could be something very expensive!

I had to go out and check that! My paddles are completely disabled in 'D' - may be it's an age or model related thing? (mines a 2006 SE)

And re what to check - brakes, tyres and service history. And all the toys. Oil changes are especially important as with all modern cars with chain driven camshafts. Leaving the oil too long causes the chains to stretch - and boy, that's expensive. Wheels can get scabby (don't use acid based wheel cleaner) but can be refurbished.

Another scenario - you're cruising along a dual carriageway at 60 in 'D' and therefore in 6. You come to a roundabout - the auto box will just stay in 6 until you accelerate out again, then will decide rather leisurely that it needs to change down a few gears. But if you're in 'S' mode, you can click down to 4 or 3 as you approach then accelerate smartly out of the roundabout and gradually click back up to 6 again. The paddle shift needs a bit of practice - it's not entirely intuitive. And you need to be careful not to over-rev - if you click down, the box will change down regardless of what the engine is doing. But once you've mastered it, it's great. I'm sure a lot of IS250 drivers never use 'S' - you never actually need to. Then you rarely get above 3000rpm. But if you do use it and the rev range - try taking it to 6500, and suddenly you're driving a 200bhp sports saloon. Not fast in comparison with a M3 perhaps, but well up there with a 325. If you're into F1, watch a cockpit shot and concentrate on the driver's fingers and the gear indicator as he goes round a corner - the IS250 in 'S' is just like that! (Well, almost....!)

Quite a lot of us do - maybe a majority? Paddles are what you get in an auto IS250. It gives you manual override - you put the stick in 'S' rather than normal 'D' then the top gear is restricted to 4 if you don't do anything. Now use the paddles (left for down, right for up) to set the max gear. (NB the paddles are not operative in 'D' mode, unlike some cars - eg Jaguars) So if, for example, you were a traffic light racer (none of us are, of course!) you could click it down to 1, then at max revs click up to 2 then 3 etc. Effectively gives you full manual. But if you just set to, say, 5, it works like a full auto but without changing up to 6. It's quite useful to stay in 4 if you're looking for an overtaking opportunity - at normal road speeds in full auto you'll mostly be in 6, but if you're doing 40 and put your foot down you will be well bogged down. (The auto box is not the fastest in the world to react to kickdown and change down 2 or 3 gears). In 'S' mode in 4 the car will be much more responsive - and of course you can always click down to 3 at any normal road speed. You don't need to lift off as you change up, either. 'Honest John' in the Telegraph likes IS250s, but only autos (and with 17" wheels for ride quality) - he reckons the engine characteristics are more suited to auto. I've never driven a manual IS250, but from my experience of my own car I'd agree. BTW - in 'S' mode you can use the stick (forward and back) instead of the paddles, but I don't know why you would and I never do.

I agree with all the sentiments here. Diesel can save money on fuel and tax, but as a rule of thumb I think you should only consider a diesel car (of any make) if you do at least 20000 miles per year and at least 10000 of those are on motorways. And if you must have a diesel, buy a german or (if you want a smaller car) a french one. I don't know why Lexus even sell any IS except the auto petrol (and now, I suppose, the hybrid, but even that is not getting rave reviews). Mazda diesels do seem quite nice - but DPF problems are eventually going to kill the whole diesel engines in passenger cars story (unless there's some radical change).