briatore

Hi Bilts Do you see the voice commands are activated on the screen? Does the car respond to your voice in any way (this sounds just scary :D and it's a pointless question as you already answered that)? I believe that all the sounds you described are played through only one speaker. It would be the mid-range one in the drivers door. It could also be the tweeter, but the sound definitely comes from that direction only, not from everywhere. It probably has to do something with echo and the microphone. Whatever, it could be that the speakers in the door are disconnected or blown. I have never opened the door panel, so I don't know what it looks like on the inside. The speaker could even have separate leads. In my previous car there was a dedicated speaker between the steering wheel and the door that only played the notifications. That's the only thing that comes to mind right now. You can try and change the sound settings so only that corner is used for the music and see if it sounds any different from the opposite one. I'd be really interested to hear if there is any difference. Good luck

I've had the VSC once and it was because the front wheels were not aligned properly. It would go on if I went over a bump or turned the steering wheel more than a few degrees while driving. It would be off when I started the car or when it was stationary or even at low speeds. I aligned the wheels and everything was ok afterwards.

I'm glad if I could be of any help. :) I've had some really bad experiences with the only local Lexus dealer/service, so I have to resort to other measures. And I love cars. And I have a friend who is one of the last true car mechanics, at least around here. :)

Steve, I'm wondering, shouldn't the drivers door open anyway from the outside and the inside if the key is in the car? It's close enough to the door. I'm not sure, but it doesn't make sense if the car can be locked with a key inside. BTW, can the car be set to lock itself after some time if the key is not detected in the car?

Hello there :) The callipers can be fixed. You don't need to replace them. It can cost you anywhere from nothing to almost nothing to do it. It happened on my car as well and the it's less than 4 years old. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures, but the procedure goes like this. (When you start doing it, it will all make sense. :) If you get stuck, I'll be happy to give more details.) You need to remove the brake pads and then remove the calliper. It's held by, I think three screws, two of which are a bit deeper inside. Make sure you block the brake line before you remove it from the calliper so the brake fluid doesn't all spill out. Remember that the brakes will need bleeding after all is done. What you need to achieve is that the mid section moves up and down, and also left and right without much effort. Usually, up-down won't be too difficult to achieve by applying some brute force, but the left-right is the difficult bit. The pin on the mid section gets rusty and stuck inside its housing. Try to grease it and gently pound it with a hammer and then repeat the procedure. Try to get the grease, oil, wd-40 or whatever you're using inside, between the pin and the housing. Feel free to lift the rubber seal to do it. If you're lucky it will start moving left-right and you'll be able to take it out. Mine had to be slightly heated with a weld torch to let go, so that's an option too. If you do it, make sure you don't burn the rubber seal rings. Heat the thing gently and on the far end of the pin housing. In my case it took only a very little to let go. When it's out (the mid section separated) clean the pin thoroughly and the inside of the housing too. Grease it with something good, like CV joint grease and put it all back together. It's smooth sailing from here. Please don't forget to bleed the brakes when you're done. :)

Hi Ish Most probably there is something, like a cd, jammed inside and that you'll have to take the unit apart to pull it out. That's the bad news. The good news is that you can probably do it yourself. You'll just need to be patient and have enough time on your hands. I have never done it myself on this car, but I've opened a similar in-dash Bose 6-cd changer and it's not that difficult as it seems. You just need to be extra careful not to scratch the interior, not to break anything inside, and to remember what goes where. :) Also, you could take the unit out yourself and then take it to a hi-fi or a TV repair guy, if there is one around. They are way cheaper than Lexus, and they know what they're doing. :) Or, if you don't want to do that either, you can always add a Vais tech unit or something similar and forget about the changer all together. Good luck and please tell us how it went. :)

What do you need to have the key duplicated? VIN? Some kind of code (I got a metal plate with one of the keys with some numbers on it)? The car needs to be there?

Thanks, Normski. :) It's always good to know things like that. You never know when you might need to do it.

Try here :)

Have you tried shouting? :D It's very unusual. I wouldn't think voice commands have anything to do with the amp. It could be that only one speaker is used for voice commands and that one is not connected, maybe.... :) Or there could be a fuse that is blown, or the amp needs to be registered with the head unit in which case you'd need someone with a Toyota Intelligent Tester 2. I'm only guessing. I hope someone will offer a more educated answer. :)

Shepherd, thanks a lot. I keep the car in a garage though, so it wouldn't help, but it's a great idea. What I do is disconnect the battery, but then it resets everything, so it's a less than perfect solution :)

Dave, that's very interesting. :D What was the procedure? Just put it into D and tow it or something else? :D

Normski, how did you do it? You double press the start button, press the clutch, put into the second gear, get it going and then press the start once? I only have a problem with the head gasket, not the battery. :D I've just read the question about the starter motor and it got me thinking. :) Steve, I know about the automatics. I have one and it consumes electricity when parked (don't ask why, I have no idea) :D. I sometimes leave it for months and I have to jump start it all the time. :D

A very simple question. Can IS 250/220d be push-started? :) Thanks

Thanks a lot. Sorry, I missed the old ones.

Hi Esme, Put some premium fuel in the car and drive it hard and after a thousand miles or so you'll notice a significant difference. It worked for me. I know how it sounds, but I'm dead serious. The turbo "gets lazy" if the car is driven gently all the time. The bearings in it put in more resistance and it's not turning as freely as it should and the lag gets worse. It has to do with the oil pressure and the lubrication, but it's not so important right now. Also, have the EGR cleaned. That's a simple procedure that can be done in 15 minutes. When I first bought the car it felt like it was losing power if I try to accelerate below 2000 rpm. This meant 60 km/h (about 37 mph) in second because it wouldn't pull in third gear. Cleaned EGR, started using only premium fuel, changed oil twice in 5000 km and used my right foot more than twice :D and the car is like a dream now. :) Also, have the car (independently if possible) checked for compression loss and exhaust fumes in the coolant, just to make sure everything is fine with the engine. Good luck and please let us know how it went.

2nd gen is slightly larger inside overall. Mostly in the front. It has 30 mm more legroom space in the front and and 9 mm more in the rear. 1st gen has 21 mm more headroom and 46 mm more shoulder room in the back, so that's why the back seat is more cramped in 2nd gen.

The difference is in the rear differential. The final gear ratios are different. There are two versions for sport, 2.937 and 3.266 and SE/SEL is 2.474. Higher ratio means more revs at any given speed than lower ratio, for example say... ratio of 3 would be 2500 rpm at 50 in fourth gear and ratio of 2 would be 2000 rpm at 50 in fourth gear. The numbers are not correct, I just wanted to illustrate the principle. This means faster acceleration with higher ratio, but lower top speed (unless both versions are electronically limited, which they are not) and worse fuel consumption (theoretically). At 30 mph, you could actually drive in fourth with sport final drive ratio and you'd have to go in third with SE/SEL. That could turn the consumption the other way around.

Thanks. I was wondering if they are just glued and what damage would the removal cause. If you have a pic, it would be much appreciated. Could it be done with the paint repair kit? :)

Check for any signs of the head gasket problem. If the car has anything but the pink coolant, walk away. If the pink coolant is too dark or smells like exhaust fumes, walk away. Test drive the car or ask the owner to drive hard and up a mountain if there is one near you and check if it lost any coolant through the pressure release hose on the coolant tank, near the cap. You can tell if any of it went out by checking for wet patches or coolant spray on the engine (it drips onto the fan behind the radiator). Drive it for at least a hundred kilometers whichever way you like and then check if the coolant level changed. If the car lost any, walk away. Check the oil. If it's anything but normal, both in level and colour, walk away. Check the acceleration and the way the car runs. Drive it at 40 mph or 60 kmh in fourth for a few seconds at least and then try to accelerate. If it loses power instead of pulling, you can expect poor mileage per gallon. Check the clutch. If it jumps or jitters when changing gears (especially down), it could soon develop problems with the flywheel. If you find a car that has none of the problems described above, you'll be very happy. It's a wonderful masterpiece of world-class engineering that will probably please you far beyond your expectations. Just don't try to save money on it. Use good fuel and good oil and change filters regularly. :)

It would be extremely difficult, and not worth it. There are no wires and it's not easy at all to register new components with the computer.

My IS is very quiet and very comfortable. I guess the guy who wrote the article had unreasonably high expectations. Sometimes the reputation can do that to a car and he was probably expecting a black matter powered starship levitating above the ground. :) And that would be the LS. :)

What's wrong with changing the filters and spark plugs yourself? :) The car is out of warranty anyway and it's half an hour work, or an hour, tops. :) You just need to find a proper way to dispose of the used oil. You can check if there is anything else to be done in the manual you got with the car, but the general idea there for all I know is that nothing major needs to be changed unless it's gone wrong.

Just a quick update. After some wait for the right original parts, last night the head went back on. The engine is very logical and quite easy to work on. There are so many parts, though. It's a lot of work and it requires attention to details. Brave heart, steady hands, and most importantly, focused mind, and everything goes smoothly. Now there is a lot of attaching back to be done, but I expect the car to be running tomorrow. I've got some photos too, but I'll make a separate thread once it's all finished. :)

Kev B, do you happen to know what did they do to it? :) I'm puzzled how a special software would fit into the procedure. I guess it must have been mostly chemical and, in part, mechanical. Toyota intelligent tester 2 tool can erase the error and can be used to manually iinitiate the regeneration, but that obviously hasn't helped in the first place.