Tim17

I decided the car was more hassle than it's worth unfortunately, so i sold it as soon as i could... problem solved haha ;)

I like many others also had the rust on the drum part of the rear brakes, i just took the wheel off, used a wire brush and some sand paper to remove the rust, and then painted them with some black hammerite smooth, i don't see the need to use high temperature paint on that part of the brake as it shouldn't get so hot. Cheap, effective, and looks 100 times better, i also painted the caliper while i was there :)

Hi mate, on some cars the water pump is driven by the timing belt, but i believe on the Is200 it is driven by an auxiliary belt (although i've only owned my IS200 for 2 weeks so hopefully someone else will confirm this), but anyway if you only need to take off auxiliary belts then you don't need to worry about timing, that only becomes relevant when changing the timing belt hence the name :)

Yes, it does sound like they're talking about the PCV system. It's a plastic valve sticking out the side of the rocker cover that is connected to the intake system via a hose.

Ok mate i presumed it was but it's good to get it confirmed cheers :)

Quick question regarding this black pipe, the plastic union part it connects to that's sticking out of the rocker cover is this the PCV valve?

I found the exact same thing when i changed mine at the weekend, and also came to the same conclusion. Either rocker gasket or someone spilt oil when changing, but as long as it isn't from inside then i'm not particulary worried for the minute, i'm thinking to have a look at the plugs again in a few months and see if they also get oil onto them, then i'll have a better idea if it's the rocker gasket or not :)

hi the area between the dust cover and the piston seal corrodes and this is what makes the piston stick simple strip and clean off the rust and also check where the seals sit in the cylinder this sometimes rusts also but a simple job for the home mechanic

Good man that's what i like to hear! I would do this even tomorow but i'm 250miles away from home with no tools, trust me to only notice the brakes are binding when i'm away on holiday for the week! I keep worrying when driving for a while that shortly i will see smoke coming from the brakes when im doing a journey somewhere as they are getting rather hot! But with the car jacked up, they are not binding as much when they are hot compared to when i tried when they was cold. There's also a noise coming from the front right wheel when driving and when turning the wheel when jacked, it's like a rubbery squeeling type noise so i don't know if that's related, just wish i could get it done now before my long journey home at the weekend :(

hi to all,mine from back weeal sound like a bell when i take courbs ,in special

Vague description lol but a stab in the dark, could be the shield around the disc that is loose and clanging when you go up a curb.

Lithium soap grease is the official grease as per the service manuals. Others have had success with different greases though.

Alrite cheers maybe i'll use that then :)

Tim ,to get pistons out if seized,take caliper off car, put a tyre compressor on to brake fluid nipple and the caliper will come out,just point it away from anything.I did this ,cleaned pistons up ,lithium grease on the slide pins and brakes are fine still after 4 months.

Good stuff cheers for the advice, good idea also about using a tyre pump, i didn't think it would fit but then again i've never tried! Unsure as to what the best grease to use now then as there's been two different suggestions but i will have to look into it :)

I would not drive until it's repaired may be a wheel bearing best get it checked by a garage to be safe

Use Castrol Red Rubber Grease on the slider pins and around the dust boot seals. You can get small pots of it on ebay for £2. The very best stuff for the job.

Cheers for the tip :) :)

hi the area between the dust cover and the piston seal corrodes and this is what makes the piston stick simple strip and clean off the rust and also check where the seals sit in the cylinder this sometimes rusts also but a simple job for the home mechanic

Good man that's what i like to hear! I would do this even tomorow but i'm 250miles away from home with no tools, trust me to only notice the brakes are binding when i'm away on holiday for the week! I keep worrying when driving for a while that shortly i will see smoke coming from the brakes when im doing a journey somewhere as they are getting rather hot! But with the car jacked up, they are not binding as much when they are hot compared to when i tried when they was cold. There's also a noise coming from the front right wheel when driving and when turning the wheel when jacked, it's like a rubbery squeeling type noise so i don't know if that's related, just wish i could get it done now before my long journey home at the weekend :(

My old caliper looked beyond repair, it was a mess and looked ready for the bin. Maybe if i stripped it and cleaned everything it would of worked again who knows. I did try greasing everything up but that only lasted a week. Is it easy to refurb your own caliper? bet its a bummer to get the pistons out and i dont think you can buy replacement pistons

Shouldn't be too difficult hopefully, i believe you can buy replacement pistons from bigg red.

Been in Lexus dealer yesterday for a cambelt change and have same problem with my sliders on front calipers. Will have a quote from them today... See what happens

Let us know how you get on with the quote :)

As transporter mentioned, you need to establish if it is the slide pins or calipers at fault, or both. Otherwise you could spend a good deal of money and not fix the issues.I got a pair of refurbed calipers for my gs430 for under a hundred quid, so there are probably cheaper options out there for you too. I used to free mine up every few months, but for £100, it was worth doing the full swap. If they only last 5 years I'd be happy with that.

Well i presume it will either be the sliding pins not 'sliding' correctly, or the piston will be seized possibly due to a faulty seal. I will buy a refurb kit with new seals etc, clean up the pistons (haven't looked yet but i think there's 2 pistons in these Lexus calipers?) So yeh, for the minute i refuse to buy a refurbed one when i believe it's possible to do it myself, the only thing i wont be able to do is pressure test the seals afterwards.

Not had any issues with the lexus bu I recently had a sticking calliper on my Jeep... Took it off and stuck it on the bench, popped the piston out, cleaned up, free off the bleed nipple, grease the sliders and rebuild... been happy ever since.

This i what i'm thinking to do, did you replace any seals while you were there?

Welcome to the sticky calliper club mate! Had both my fronts sieze up too! I did what Transporter did but I wasn't so lucky, it seized again about 1000 miles and then the other one stuck too so I bit the bullet as i was frustrated and i need my car running perfect as its my daily driver and I work freelance so I bought new callipers for the front, not cheap!! £200 each:(

Thanks for the welcome, however i wish i wasn't part of this 'club' ;)

What exactly did you do with the caliper? Did you use a refurb kit with new seals etc?

Ok so after a search and a read through i can see this is a hot topic! However none of it sets me straight with the whole situation!

Does anyone know what the ACTUAL cause of this is??

My drivers side is the worst one but the near side is also binding upon rotation with the car jacked up.

It's pretty stupid to be honest how such a simple thing can be defective for SO many people. I don't fancy paying for another caliper either new or refurbed.. Has no one refurbed it themselves before or just gave it a generel clean/grease up?

There must be a way of sorting this without paying for another, because it seems even a refurbed one can be faulty again after a little while? Even if it means giving them a clean/grease every 6months or so, and yes i am being tight, i only bought the car for just over £1k so im not looking to pay almost £200 just for 2 refurbed calipers lol.

Anyways, rant over! ;)

I have no idea i dont see why anyone would weld it though! I will post a picture up when i get round to it but im away from home at the minute i'm down in Devon ;D i'll keep you posted on the fluid level mate, pretty sure its not from the pipe!

Cheers mate, but what you've said about tensioning the belt wont work, there is a 14mm bolt (on the slider part) which holds it in place, but this bolt goes into a nut on the other side which is welded on to the back part so im kinda of confused, also, yesterday i was looking at the pump and there was abit of oil on the back of it, i didn't know if this was from the pump itself or from somewhere else, so i wiped it completely dry and today i've looked again after a bit of commuting, and i had a bit of fluid on the my fingers from the back of the pump, so it would seem the pump has a small leak which could even be the original problem and would also explain why the PAS fluid resourvoir was so low after i bought it!

Ok cool thanks :), i'll have another look tomorrow fingers crossed! Just find it weird it only does it when the engine is cold!

you undo the nut then tighten up the bolt to tension the belt more. the more you tight it the more it will tighten up. then at the end tighten the nut back up. the only prob is there is very little room to get there so be patient. if you could access from under the car its easier.a bit of wd40 or similar lubricant helps on the adjuster bolt.all the best -

So the same nut and bolt i was on about? So i undo the 14mm nut and then 'do up' the bolt clockwise and it will tighten the tension?

Cheers for the reply guys, how exactly do i tension the belt up more? I notice its on the sliding adjuster held in place with a 14mm nut/bolt, so i loosened that but i couldn't budge the pump, there's no room to get any leverage in there to try and move the pump to tighten the belt. Unless i'm going the wrong way about it and there's a better method?

Thanks.

If it doesn't burn oil when it's run for a while and when you rev the engine then It shouldn't really be serious. Plus if your oil level isn't going down much in between services, then you needn't worry.

It doesn't blow out any smoke after the initial start up smoke or under any revs, however i don't know about when i am actually driving the car, because when i put my foot down and put the engine under load i imagine this would be a time when it would puff out more smoke. but as i'm always in the car i can never see it producing anything, so i need to get someone to drive behind me and let me know if it's producing some whilst the engine is being worked and not just revved.

But my old man pretty much said the same as you, said the engine is just a bit worn but shouldn't worry about it too much, unless it starts using excessive oil or starts producing alot more smoke even after initial start.

what it has is if you unlock with the fob and don't open any of the doors within 30 seconds it locks them again

Oh right :/, when i bought the car it has only 1 key (the master one i think), and the previous owner warned me about it 'auto locking' because once he left the keys inside the car and the car locked itself with the keys inside? :/ So he had to call a locks person to get in through the boot or something (i think he might of said he left the keys in the boot actually but can't really remember), but it doesn't really make sense to me!

Quick question which isn't worth starting a new topic, does the car have automatic locking after a few minutes if you exit the car without locking it? Or something along the lines of that..

Thanks

Make sure that you use antifreeze in your water else you'll have issues with corrosion in the engine.... As it has been said above, the water pump does suffer from leaks and so may well be worth a good looksee...

Yep i am, thanks :)

Hi guys, i have searched the forum but to be honest i can't find anything that really helps my situation.

So, I've only had the car about 5 days, but since i've had it the power steering (***when it's cold***) is a problem, but only until the car is warmed up.

The problem is, when i turn the wheel, the power steering belt is slipping (steering pump pulley stops but the belt carries on flying round causing the normal terrible screeching), but only when it's cold, but sometimes even when it's warmed up abit it will do the same thing when i put it on full lock!

So basically upon first inspection the power steering fluid level was low, below minimum, so i topped it up and everything seemed ok, untill the next morning when it was cold and it was doing it again, it's so annoying and embarrasing, i'm sure the neighbours wont be happy with me at 7am everyday also haha .

I've checked the belt tension and it doesn't seem slack, also the belt is only about 2/3years old it has a Gates one on there. I'm keeping an eye on the fluid (because makes me wonder why was it so low in the first place?), it seems to have gone down a small amount since i topped it up but i don't know if that's normal because of how low it was previously or maybe i have a leak somewhere? If so where should i be checking? Is there a common area for the PAS system to be at fault?

I kind of don't know where to start, so any thoughts/ideas would be great, thanks