Ayrton

Any views on these pictures? They are telling me the thread must have been stripped on the way in because you can't strip threads on the way out. The additional cost is presumably based around the welding in of a new nut in picture 2. We've been through a conciliation service, he offered to take £55 off the bill, I'm still not happy, but the time for pragmatism might be nigh. Court is aggravation and the time it would take is more than the money we are fighting over. The thing that pees me off is that the car was driven into their garage, and before I knew any more about it, it was a non-runner, with the nut having 'disintegrated', 'shattered', whatever. I get no option to ask myself if the car is worth it, maybe sell it on (as a runner). I just don't think that is right. Don't tell me what you think I want to hear about this, I don't want punches pulled. Tell me straight. Fight on, or pay up?

Well they have come back to me, and it looks like it might turn nasty. Bring it on, I say.

Another nugget for the back pocket, should they squeal. I thought it was a lot, but it is the wife's car primarily and we needed it back on the road so I was willing to go along with their estimate. We agreed to £170; then we agreed to a little more than; and I am keen to honour what I agreed to, so I have chosen a figure of £200 to make sure I am on the right side of reasonable. I doubt they'll come back to me. I know I'm not going back to them.

There's more to this than I've said. The job is already done. They quoted £170 for the part and fitting. I did do a search on the part before I committed, and suspected they were overcharging or not sourcing the cheapest, but I am a bit of a spanner with a spanner in my hand, and I was willing enough to go along with it for the convenience of getting it done. There were complications on the job. The boss 'disintegrated', apparently; happens a lot on cars of this age, apparently; and they said they'd need 'a little extra' in labour to rectify it. Now glad I hadn't undertaken it myself, I told them to go ahead. They'd quoted for about half an hour labour, I reckon, and I thought 'a little extra' would be another half hour. The bill came in at £360 with 3.5 hours labour on it. At no point was I advised 'a little extra' was 'a lot extra'. I've paid them £200 and told them to whistle for the rest. I can do this as I have the car back. If they want to fight me they can - it is good to have the overpriced part thing in my back pocket in case I need it. Incidentally does anyone have a view on 'disintegrating bosses'? Is that a thing? Is there any chance they broke it?

Can someone please advise a ball park UK cost of the following part for a 2001 IS200: "Lambda sensor (Bank 1, Sensor 1)" My garage is charging what I believe to be an inordinate amount. I think I have seen the part for half, possibly even a third, of what they are asking, but I'm not sufficiently expert to be sure I'm looking at the right thing, so I don't want to bandy numbers with them without some corroboration (though I am fairly sure I've got the right one). I appreciate there will be a mark up for getting the part same or next day but nevertheless I think what they have asked for is extortion.

I had them on my old Alfa, got them on the Lexus and an XTrail now and not a peep from any of them. I guess that doesn't help much...

Thanks for that. I was hoping to demonstrate that the radio was working as well as I would like before cutting anything, but it is what it is, so I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet (connector) :) I don't know why it's not plug and play though, it ought to be...

Thanks for the rapid response. Should it fasten on with the clip that is on it, or do I need to get the clip off the old black wire?

Mostly fitted my Lexus amp by-pass loom, one thing still a bit of a problem. Regarding the blue wire with the white plastic end, just trying to make sure I connect this right. Here's a picture http://pic.twitter.com/YtRj06WAMX The white plug with the foam surround emerges from the same tape wrapping as the aerial. The other black lead with the silver bar was fitted into it. It looks like the black and silver has the same metal connection as the blue one, albeit in a different plastic wrapper. I have tried connecting the blue straight to the black-with-foam socket but it is a loose fit, doesn't stay connected and even when it is connected doesn't seem to make much difference. I am guessing that I need to take off the plastic ends and swap them over in order to get a snug connection. However before I risk snapping anything I'd like to be sure I'm headed in the right direction - is this so? I can't see anywhere else I'd connect the blue, and since it is an aerial related lead this seems to be the way to go. Can anyone who has done this bypass confirm?

Very nice. I need a bit of that. Can I be so rude as to ask how much it set you back? They're a bit more 'gun-metal' than stock, and that suits the colour of the car to a tee. Mine is metallic blue though so I think I'd need to stick to the bright silver.

Can someone give me a heads up on how to connect the blue aerial cable from the bypass lead?

I've got the stereo out, I've got the glove box door out, but I can't see how to unplug the amp. There's a chunky bunch of cables that won't move and I can't get my fingers round the back. Do I have to remove the amp altogether? I've found instructions for this but I'd rather not bother...

Lexus customer service confirm it is a 2001 built car. However the person I spoke to had no clue what the difference between early and late build cars were. Anyway that's enough for me to take a chance on the Scosche.

Hi, Just joined the forum as I am looking for some advice on replacing the head unit in my IS200. I've had a good read around and in the absence of a genuine Toyota part, the consensus seems to suggest that a Scosche fascia adapter will look nicest in my dash. Feel free to say if you think different - a lot of the threads I have read are very old! Anyhow the postage is prohibitive getting one of these things from the States, so I looked on eBay. Some of the non-Scosche options state that they fit 98-04, others say 01-04. This confuses me because my car was registered in 2001, so how can I be sure whether or not an 01-04 part will be any good to me? What changed in 2001 to make the dash different? This is particularly relevant to a potential Scosche purchaser like me because the only adapter currently listed is 01-04. I have already bought a Connects2 kit, luckily it came in clear packaging, I didn't need to open it in order to see that the texture is a hopeless mis-match . That can go straight back whence it came... Thanks in advance for your assistance Regards Ayrton