mista_khan

@petayv8 you must feel sane now, the guys on the forum probably made you think you going loopy mate lol, I do think the coming out of gear could be lack of oil, I think im going to get 5 litres of Toyota oil and top It up, it will make a damn difference and I might drain the partial oil (2.3l) before topping it up? see if that makes a difference? and hell yeah on the motorway it really comes alive, I really cant complain for a car that's 15 years old, still keeps up to a lot of metal out there :)

@colinbarber, honestly my oil looks like the last one on that photo, ps: how can I add links or url in the posts on this forum :s

@petayv8 the videos a great idea, I noticed another thing, these issues only happen when car is warming up, once warm it drives fine, yesterday I went upto Manchester for my bday meal, once I got on the motorway it just came alive oh my was hitting 120 without even looking LOL and once warm gear change up and down are smooth, and also doesn't come out of gear, when I checked oil level on sunday it was decent, today when he checked it , it damn looked empty :s he did also say is200 has low power in lower revs but once you go over a certain rev the car is more alive, maybe that's why I feel like its not downchanging or upchanging ontime as the revs are steady at 2500 revs?

Quick update, went down to gearbox specialist in Moseley today called Driver transmission, told them the symptoms so the chap test drove my car, took it around the block and he floored it quite a few times changed down and up the gears, told me he doesn't understand what the problem is as the car drives beautifully in his words? I also showed him the oil and he goes it isn't bad, but is low, so he told me to top up the oil and also get it on a ramp and check if theres a leak in the gearbox oil from somewhere, except that he said all else is fine, could it be low oil level causing the same issue and he said the oil isn't burnt or blacked out either so maybe its just to my noobish eyes ? got a quite of 62.00 per 5L of Toyota type iv too

@colinbarber this seems do-able, where about is the cooler line and is it easy to get to once car is on jack stands? I heard of this way after reading through other posts over the weekend but wasn't sure how in depth it would be, is there like a guide on how to do this or basic instructions somewhere?

@ petayv8 so I need around 10L litres of Toyota t-iv and It doesn't seem like I can do it in my back garden then? and I don't even think my normal garage has the brains to do this either.

sorry to be a noob @petayv8 but am I going to do a dry fill or a drain and refill ?

@petayv8 exactly what I was thinking, but he wouldn't lie to me which means the mechanic used some ****ty ***** oil or maybe put the old one back in? the oil is damn bitch black and smells burnt, ive checked the dipstick again and its the same situation the oil is black. if I drain the oil out completely from the sump below the dipstick , how much oil will I need in total to refill the oil? and definitely ill be using Toyota type iv and looks cheaper if I import it from usa. or I might even take it to a specialist gearbox garage to get it changed as I don't want to mess anything up.

quick update, including the above symptoms now ive noticed the gearbox doesn't change up to a smoother gear once cruising and thus the car feels like its struggling as its over 2500 revs when it should be in higher gear sitting around 2000 revs, the ex owner keeps saying as the gearbox was changed in November 2013 , its most likely the vvti filter but after seeing the black dirty oil in the gearbox dispstick im also certain its the gearbox oil, whats the correct oil name and is It only available from lexus dealers? and whats the mesh grill in the gearbox that should be changed along with the oil ? cheerss

Okay finally got the dipstick out and checked oil, hell it aint pink, looks damn dark to me, see photo, also ive noticed when going up hill when the cars warming up and not reached full temp , it gets stuck between 2500 and 3000 revs and jumps between those revs like its stuck and cant make its mind up to gear up or gear down? cant seem to paste photobucket link????

that makes a lot of sense noby76, but im not too fussed about the take off as the is200 is just my crusing car anyway, going back to the oil, how do I check the gearbox oil? is it from inside the car or underneath the car? any instructions to do so? previous owner had gearbox changed around 1.5 years ago so I assume they fill it with new gearbox oil?

okay after forgetting about the take off issue, I have noticed something else in past two weeks, normally when warming up when driving when I come to a stop like traffic lights, although the gear is still in D, it goes out of gear, so when I accelerate it jumps back into gear and then moves? that wasn't there before and now im thinking its happening everyday so it isn't going away either, what could be causing this? basically jerks back into gear after putting the pedal down to accelerate?

think your confused bud, you don't need trade plates to be a trader, trade plates are for big boys costs damn a lot to have trade plates, but to be a standard trader you just need motor trade cover, and as I said part time trading of atleast 6 cars per year so if op can do the above and live in a decent postcode so he doesn't get shafted for a quote, id say go for it :)

you don't need trade plates, if you can sell at least six cars a year and keep proof of cars you buy and sell, and parts receipts etc, you can go on traders, not hard at all and if you have more then 2 cars it works out cheaper, but you may have to pay more for imports/ or sports performance cars

I moved address back to my parents house ( 5 miles away ) near to bham and my current insurer wont cover me any longer as apparently my postcode is declined, (near bham) was paying 1050 5 miles away and now getting quotes of 1500+ which is just stupid, I got a quote of 1200 but cars need to be off the road at night which I cant do, so can someone recommend me some good brokers or insurers who give a fair deal on motor trade insurance please. any feedback welcome

@petayv8 so theres nothing unusual about the gearbox, because according to my friend the previous owner, the car was more faster before and wasn't really a delay in picking up speed before the box got changed?

hey in park and neutral powers smooth, but in gear, when I put the foot down it takes about 1 or two seconds for the power to fully surge and come through, also noticed when I turn my car on although engine is fully warm, it will always struggle going up hill until I turn it off and turn it back on again, not sure if its linked,

Hi bought my is200 se auto 1999 on lpg off my family friend in feb, before I bought it he told me the gearbox headgasket etc has bee changed in 2013, but there is a slight kickback of power when you put your foot down in petrol or lpg. Its like at a roundabout you put your foot down , car will move but a second or two delay before the full power comes through and revs start going up, never really bothered me when I bought it as ive been cruising in it, but now I feel like putting the pedal to the floor at times, and don't like waiting for that two second delay lol he did tell me before I bought it that its the vvti filter or vvti oil control valve that's needs to be changed as when he got the gearbox changed and noticed this issue, he went back to the garage and told him the gearbox is fine, its the vvti filter, what you guys think , is it the vvti filter or something else. mileage is 96k atm , hope that makes sense though,

Hi ive gave the battery 2 x 12 hour charges off main charges over 2 days, now when it put it back in the lexus and turned engine on, with everything off voltage was at 13.1v and with headlights, hrw and cd player on voltage hovered between 12.9v and 13.1v

Okay done the load test today with ac, and HRW, headlights and cd player on, the battery level stayed above 13.2v and maxed at 13.6v with all those on so alternator is fine, and today my car has died 3 times, so now as a last resort ive put the battery on charge, if this doesn't work it will be a new battery but atleast we know alternators fine, its the battery not holding charge.

Hi okay will do tomorrow, and by failing you mean battery is failing after keeping HRW and Lights on and voltage stays above 13v? and I do over 200 miles in my lexus atleast per week so that should be sufficient to charge it, I also don't have a subwoofer or anything car is standard except xenon headlights which use less power then normal bulbs.

okay just to confirm the voltage above was with everything off, will do another check tomorrow with headlights and HRW on and then with headlights, HRW and ac and cd player with engie on whats the minimum voltage it should be regardless of anything being on or not?

hey man, could it be I need a new battery as when the car is off, if I leave headlights on for few mins or play the cd player for say 5 mins, the cars battery dies, and in the morning the car tries very hard and then turns over , also what I noticed today is when I turned on cd player, fans were on 2 and turned on headlights, the interior dash lights were hardly visible, including the lights for the fan and rear window de steamer.

Hi ive noticed my car tries very hard to start first thing in the morning, then I noticed my alternator metre on the dash was below normal, using my cigarette lighter battery tester, the alternator isn't even charging anything, voltage at idle is 13.4v and when the fan in the engine turns on it goes to 13.6v and thats just with the engine on, which is still low, so is it a case of the alternator is on its way out, or have I blown a fuse and worth checking out. ive attached photos of the metre on the dash and the battery tester thing. cheers

hey greggster that's fine will start doing that, but worse case scenario , he does a runner with my 500 pound motor lol, my insurance wont cover it has he has the logbook and keys , so he will get away clean?