fjcfarrar

Are you sure the seller is not a dealer. Someone who frequently advertises and sells cars "on the side" is still a dealer as far as refunds etc. are concerned and cannot fall back on "as seen & without warranty". He is responsible that it is roadworthy & fit for purpose unless sold for spares or with notified faults. Otherwise, to get rid without fixing is surely going to be a problem unless you are prepared to lose badly or can persuade a genuine private seller to refund you on the basis that he could not have been unaware of a major fault he failed to mention.

There is no exhaust butterfly valve. The 3600 rpm change involves reconfiguration of induction/injection/valve-timing etc. required at higher RPM to give greater combustion efficiency. It could possibly be reprogrammed; but would only make engine characteristics worse.

If it is as you describe including the engine warning light; a faulty clutch is as unlikely a cause as a Unicorn under the bonnet - although I suppose the clutch could be worn out as well as your engine fault. If the car had been warmly garaged indoors and went out into very cold conditions, massive condensation in the engine-bay may have caused this or maybe dirty/poor connections to the throttle-body or poor-connection/faulty lambda sensor etc. Unlikely to be anything very expensive. If you don't fancy checking these yourself, take the car to a different Lexus Dealer.

With a fully charged battery, a permanent drain of 50mA will take about 10 weeks to flatten a fully charged battery. So, some investigative steps if you have a multimeter. (1) After a journey taking more tha about 20 mins, the battery voltage should be about 14.4 volts with the engine running a little above tick-over. (2) When you then switch everything off this will gradually drop to about 12.8 - 13.5 Volts over an hour or two. (3) The Auto headlight system can cause strange problems, so try leaving them in the off position on the column stalk. (4) If you can afford to completely disconnect the battery over a weekend, and afterwards all is OK - then the battery is not the problem if a weekend is usually enough to flatten it. If it still dies, then (new or not) the battery is the cause of the problem. (5) If you bought a new battery and have since only done short journeys (particularly with lights on), you may have never fully charged it, so try a journey taking an hour or two or charge it with a cheap charger. One of these is probably a good idea anyway to tide you over until you find the fault! (6) When you try to measure the current drain on the battery with a multimeter, you have to disconnect the main lead to connect the meter in series it - and this can temporarily reset things that can cause current drain giving your problem; so you need to beg, borrow or steal a non-contact DC current meter that just slips over the battery lead without disturbing anything - such as a DC Clamp meter, or a Fluke T5 electrical tester. (7) Having proved for yourself the problem is not Charging or Battery but is current drain; just take out each fuse in turn to try to find the cause. There are several fuse boxes to check. (8) Finally, make sure that there are no visible electrical modifications like new wires joined-in or non-standard goodies fitted. These are often the source of confusing electrical problems such as your clock illumination remaining permanently on. Good luck, you will get there in the end.

You need to take into account the IS200 tank hold 70 litres which may be a lot more than your VW.

2011.Dealers have MY2010 onwards available at good prices - often "ex-demo" etc. to shift them. Where??? Lexus Glasgow has a delivery mileage 2011 IS-F for £42k in black http://usedcars.lexu...58-2800368.aspx It is a minefield and even the Lexus UK website seems to have spec errors, Also important to bear in mind that all the updates are essentially niceties, not fundamental changes. You need to decide which ones are worth extra money to you. Dealer's "delivery mileage"/"ex-demo" ISFs often do not show on their websites as either new or used cars & need visits to showrooms or phonecalls - then a haggle. Good luck. Whichever version tou choose - enjoyment guaranteed!

2011. Adaptive front suspension gives a better ride on lumpy roads. Update to my description of current options. They are wheels (2 sorts), white seats & sunroof. LSD is now standard. The ISF sold very slowly after 2008.There are no MY2009. Dealers have MY2010 onwards available at good prices - often "ex-demo" etc. to shift them. The main reason to buy MY2011 over MY2010 is if you find the drive of earlier versions too harsh - I don't. Or if you fancy the electric blue colour - for me a bit tacky. The main reason to buy MY2010 over MY 2008 is a better layout of some controls, not sure that late ones with Thorsen LSD have very much advantage over the earlier electronic control. Satnav & multimedia are improved after MY2008.

The real question is why on earth would you want to this? A signal is sent back to the antitheft circuits confirming the doors are unlocked & another when they are locked. The wiring diagram is here: http://bahamutcars.free.fr/workshop/IS_98-05/menu_tree.html You could use these signals to control the Angel Eyes. They would then stay on all the time the car was unlocked - except if you manually lock the doors while driving. If you are into electronics & logic circuits; you could OR-Gate these signals with the "Ignition On" signal to prevent this. If you are not; you can do a lot of damage.

I feel a bit for the MOT tester. If he spots something which may be a bit trivial but isn't a matter of judgement like the degree of wear & tear - what is he supposed to do? Should he pretend he hasn't seen it & risk comeback if it is noted elsewhere? It seems to me the MOT tester was as helpful as he could be while doing his job as he should. It was an annoying issue & I am glad it is now sorted as well as you could realistically expect.

We all have our prejudices & are inclined to bias. Nevertheless a concensus would be: A good IS220D is quite a good car & an average IS250 Auto is an excellent car but usually a bit thirstier.

Suspension changes affect MY 2011 on. Otherwise the remaining upgrades are optional LSD, extra body colour, just tinkering with SatNav/Audio/Displays & DRLs at the expense of losing adaptive headlights. Oh also - £10k increase in list price.

The filter element has no influence on oil pressure which is controlled elsewhere - it is just needed to reduce particles of muck circulating with the oil. With today's engines and lubricants, filters have very little to do. So why not fit an OEM filter which will work just as well, last just as long & available from all Lexus & most Toyota spares counters.

Glad they stumped up for a refund - makes you feel better just on principle. I suppose I have been lucky really & have never had to replace plates right from the days of white on black to now - plus I only think of them as a help to find the car in car-parks and something to stop each end from fraying

Supplying you with non-legal plates. Wriggling out of their responsibilities by refusing to replace them with proper legal plates in this petty way. What does this tell you about this company? "Reputable" - hardly! Bothered about their customers once they have your money - what do you think? Even supposing they have got their act together now - Don't use them again. Tell everybody you know about them. Mind you, will they care where it is probably a bit late for the Authorities to do anything about it.........

I know it sometimes doesn't seem fair, but regardless of the legalities surrounding the supplying of your plates; once you drive on the roads they are entirely your responsibility. Not knowing the Law has never been a defence & you must surely have known you were pushing your luck with ANYTHING non-standard on your plates. Although an extra space seems only slightly breaking the law; it doesn't recognise "slightly breaking" - it treats it much the same way as "slightly pregnant". So perhaps it is best to just put it down to a life-lesson & forget about it :<)

If you are happy with what you have, you may as well stick with it. If you would like a better all round drive; go for an IS250 - but an Auto, because the manual gearbox is not exactly special. The Road Tax is lower on the Auto because it has lower emissions, and it also returns better mpg. IS250 Auto economy is likely to be worse than the IS 220D, but not necessarily very much worse for your usage. I would suggest that engine life will be similar; but probably more trouble-free with the IS250 if you are generally not doing long fast journeys. 58k is just early days for the IS250 engine.

No luck from Kwik-fit... A kind member left me his mobile but unfortunatly he had a different type of locking key.. O well out comes the hammer and chisel... Sadly the locking wheel nuts in your picture are not the OEM supplied type, so Lexus may be unable to help - but the OEM type don't look good so alternatives were often fitted. Your Lexus garage may have come across your type & be able to remove them.

I think they don't on earlier models - they certainly did on my 2003 IS200LE, also closing the sunroof at the same time.

It hasn't got a Bendix. It is a pre-engage starter via a solenoid. Disconnect the battery first, disconnect the starter's electrical connections and take the starter motor out as if you were replacing it. Then just take it to bits (the cog/engage assy, not the brushes etc), clean it up to remove any grit & make sure no return-springs are damaged or moving parts severely worn or sticking. If it is in a bad state you might still end up replacing it.

The specialists are half correct. No induction kit will make any measurable difference to IS200 performance. But panel filters etc. won't either unless as a replacement for a severely clogged OEM Filters. "Uprated" filters could allow extra air to flow; but the engine is incapable of asking for any extra air unless a supercharger or the like is fitted. The original filter does not impose a detectable restriction in flow on the standard engine. The only reasonable excuse to fit these is to get stuff that looks pretty, is useless but doesn't do any harm. Both can change engine noise - which you could use to convince yourself amounts to improved performance & flexibilty.

Suspect it could be because only the front wheels can travel up & down whilst sticking out as in a corner - but that is just a guess.

Power steering pump faults are unusual - and difficult to prove until severe. Leaking seals in the steering-rack often results in continuing loss of fluid, swollen gaiters at the end of the rack and/or fluid drips. Other than that, you can expect slightly less free steering at low temperatures; but not really stiff. If swivel-joints etc. are rusty/stiff, making the the steering a bit reluctant anyway, cold temperatures will only make things worse - but unlikely if everything is fine when it is a bit warmer.

All MY2010 - but with only approx. 21 ISF's sold in 2010 (not all were MY2010), and 27 in 2011; it is hard to pick and choose. There were still only approx. 197 ISFs UK registered by end 2011.

Later this year, the MOT is set to include a requirement for all OEM warning lights to be functional as shown by the switch - on sequence, and none to light erroneously. This means you can't now just take a bulb out. I don't know how rigorously this will be applied, bearing in mind the short time allowed for the whole test.

It has been my experience that if you express shock & horror at the service price, Lexus Garages manage to come up with a rather lower one.