route66

I'm guessing no (as in, don't ask somebody who's gone through this 🤬 to take pictures 😁), but I'll ask anyway: Any pictures?

Not sure if they are open, but "Lexus Parts Direct" may be able to help: http://www.lexuspartsdirect.co.uk/parts/category/lexus-is/lexus-is-phase-iii-2013-present/

Heave a look in this post where somebody described how they went about changing their Xenon bulb: link I would be very interested to hear how you get on as I'd like to do this myself - and have done it many times in the past on other cars - but am a little afraid of xenon and the access (or lack) available. The post I linked to didn't really provide enough to satisfy my cowardly nature 🤣

There are a few threads on this in the GS forum: link & link

My own car is a mid-2014 Exec with 84K miles recorded - my first car with HID lights. According to the powerbulbs.com website (link😞 I am disappointed with the output of my lights and have some of the following questions/comments: Does anyone know how about light output reduction on HID lights over time? The auto light feature on the IS in my experience means they are switched on more than those in a car with manual switching but the linked article suggests they last 2500 hours. At, say, 15 hours a week, this means a HID bulb will only last for a bit over 3 years ... Has anybody replaced the original HIS bulbs in their IS300H with equivalents and went WOW afterwards or was it just done to replace a faulty/failed bulb My lights "boot up" bright and then dim. This happens very quickly and you need the lights to be pointing at a light to notice. Is this normal?

Are these the ones you bought - link? Autobulbsdirect selling them for £109.99 (inc VAT) for a pair

As I said, I'm scared 😲 ... I guess I'd just like to see what's involved, access, what needs to be disconnected, etc because the manual has nothing to say on it. Well, other than go to your local Lexus dealer who I guess would be very happy to charge you a rather large sum of money!

Just before pre-light up time, I sometimes can't tell if my (auto) lights are on or off! They're definitely dimmer than I recall with other cars I've owned in the past. If I switch them on manually while facing a wall, I notice that they come on bright and then instantly dim - like in some boot-up sequence. Anyway ... Can't wait for Alex's writeup 😉

Any chance you'd keep a camera handy to record what you do at the weekend? I'd really love to see a writeup ... I've changed countless bulbs in the past, some easier than others - it's just I'm scared of the HID ones 😲

Any chance of a write up? I've changed plenty of bulbs in the past, but never HID Xenon Bulbs so am a bit afraid of the unknown 😮

Like many others, I don't use Sat Nav (non premium) on my IS300H Executive. I did investigate how to upgrade it and got to a point where I could obtain the necessary from a vendor on Ebay for about €70, but didn't do anything about it. But one question remains: Forget about map data, does the upgrade update anything else? E.G. the infotainment system software? My software in this area hasn't been updated from new and I've experienced the odd issue - the occasional crash (screen freeze) and MP3s playing via bluetooth "forgetting" where they were on my phone when I power the car down. All of these first world problems, but if I could fix them I might have a look again. Has anyone noticed any worthwhile benefits - outside of map data - after an upgrade?

I have always found the headlights in my 2014 IS300H Executive poor - especially the dipped ones. There was a thread about this earlier in the year (link) where - curiously - some people thought there was no problem. If anyone does the swap to newer/brighter bulbs, I'd be very interested in the details! I'm not sure a bulb swap on the GS is relevant to IS owners - I'd guess there is heaps more space under it's bonnet.

As I said, my car felt a little unusual with it on the front; I hadn't thought of your idea - thanks! Do you know why it's not recommended to use them on the front?

I had breakdown cover through my car insurance. Looking at some of the comments above, it does - or should - take away the warm glow of comfort you get with breakdown cover. I'm sure I'm not alone in being happy to pay a bit more for full "car immobilised" cover; "breakdown" is too narrow a definition.

I'd prefer not to as they did admit they were wrong when they rang me back to apologise and offer help. The internet can be an angry place and I don't want to thrash a company (an international one, not just local to Ireland) because of one person's mistake. The advice I'd offer to anyone in a similar situation is to remain polite but firm and have access to your policy documentation; stand your ground and let it be known you're not going to take no for an answer. Oh, and to develop your parking skills 😉

I've had my IS300H for nearly 2 years and am happy with pretty much everything except the lack of a spare. Last week, I stupidly crunched the NS rear wheel against a kerb when parking. It sounded expensive and when I got out to have a look, it was: along with a nice scrape on the rim, I also had a slash on the sidewall and the tyre deflated in less than a minute. The tyre gunk would not have been safe to use - if it would have even worked. I rang my breakdown number and was told that my situation wasn't covered because for some reason they classified it as a Road Traffic Accident (RTA) and this was an exemption in the policy. Except it wasn't. Cutting a long story short, they gave up on inventing exemptions and sent a nice man out with a generic space saver. My other tyres were close to needing replacement so I drove to a tyre shop and got 4 Dunlop Sport MAXX rt2 - 225 / 45ZR17 94Y. Determined not to be caught out again, I then looked into the options for a spare. From reading various forums, I understood that a space saver from a Mark II Lexus IS would fit and a quick search on Ebay revealed this which cost €92 delivered. Using a tyre size calculator, there is a difference in the diameter between the spacesaver and the standard wheel: 23.9" Vs 25" respectively or 4.5% in the rolling diameter (I used Tiresize.com to do the calculation). I'm assuming this slight discrepancy is ok, especially considering there is a 12.8 mm difference in diameter between a wheel with a new tyre (8mm tyre depth) and a barely legal one (1.6mm). So although I wouldn't recommend mixing new and worn tyres on the one axle, these small differences should be tolerated and are ok on a temporary basis when using a space saver. The first job was to see if it would fit. The IS300H comes with a wheel brace and car jack so I was good to go. The spacesaver takes 60PSI and was delivered with 40 so I inflated it to the correct pressure, fitted it to the rear and then took it for a quick drive to make sure it fitted - all good: And then, the front: The car felt a bit different with the space saver on the front - more so on lock. But my old tyres skipped on full-lock low-speed maneuvers, so I'm guessing the narrow, smaller diameter, highly inflated spacesaver was never going to feel 100%. I'm happy to use it for its intended purpose - an emergency, low speed, short-distance option. But where to put the spare? I removed the top boot lining and rigged up a strap through a loop behind this at the top of the boot and underneath this at the base of the NS folding rear seat. I then replaced the boot lining and "installed" the wheel, outer face towards rear: The IS 300H boot isn't exactly massive, and the wheel does take up a bit of room. I already had a soft case in there (full of the usual junk) and the remaining space was marginal to say the least. But what about using the concave area of the wheel to store the case - result! Murphy's law dictates I will never use the space saver but it is reassuring to have the option of using it when necessary and I can live with the reduced boot space. Being old-school, I would rank the availability of a spare highly when I replace the IS - albeit, this won't be any time soon ...

It isn't as fast as a "regular" car with 220 BHP, but having said that, the power delivery is deceptive such that it feels slower. In 2013, Autocar tested the IS300H against the then current BMW 320d and the performance was comparable. The transmission lag is also something that annoys me. You can access the "kickdown switch" by just pressing very hard on the accelerator but it doesn't really make a whole lot of difference to the lag. Nor does putting it into sport mode or using the manual override on the gear lever / "flappy" paddles. The truth is you just have to adapt your driving to the lag. When this isn't possible - e.g. in a big hurry - it is just frustrating: try to accelerate into a gap in traffic, press accelerator, lag, not going to make it, release accelerator, get rewarded for your aggression/impatience with a mini acceleration even though you've backed off. My last car was a manual 2.0 naturally aspirated petrol and was much better to drive in these scenarios. The solution - for me anyway - is to adopt a more relaxed driving style.

Thanks for the detailed write up! What was the colour of the old oil like?

😲

How is the IS300H equivalent of B-mode (switch to "normal" timing to enhance engine braking) triggered? I'm sure the paddles have something to do with it, but not clear what exactly causes the switch on and off?

... and let me state I wasn't involved in any aspect of the design of the Toyota Hybrid system! I'm just interested in technology and have read extensively on the Toyota hybrid system. I've just googled "b mode toyota hybrid engine "valve timing"" - as I first did when we introduced a Prius+ into the family fleet 4 years ago - and now realise that I got carried away when I first read about the altering of the valve timing. For no reason whatsoever (!), I read altered valve timing to mean that the valves were held open. The google results prove what you say: the valve timing is just changed with B mode, they are not held open: From a blog in Toyota's UK site (link) : Incidentally, when you move the transmission selector in to the B position, to get engine braking, the Prius alters its valve timing and pretends to be an Otto engine as Atkinson engines have useless engine braking. From the Priuschat site (link) : B mode primarily changes the valve timing to create engine braking Toyotanation (link) : B mode is much simpler than it has been described. It is simply an engine brake mode. Because the Atkinson cycle has poor engine braking, the intake timing is temporarily moved back to Otto cycle when in B mode. On all fuel injected engines fuel is cut off when you back off on the accelerator. No fuel is used in engine braking. You are just pumping air. Like an air compressor the engine gets hot from pumping and energy is wasted as heat. The source of energy for engine braking is the wheels, and the kinetic energy of the vehicle, not the battery. Hybridcars (link) : The "B", engine Brake mode for the Prius uses a change in valve timing to turn the engine into an air compressor to increase the compression braking effect. Geekswithblogs (link) : When you go into B mode, it stars opening the air intake valves at the least efficient time. This causes the engine to push around a lot of air, which uses up energy, and helps slow you down, taking work off of the brakes. I'm still confused however.. If the change to engine timing increases engine braking, then surely (& backed up by some of the above links) that means less regen?

Using the paddles in the IS300H is the same as using the "B" mode in a regular Prius - the main difference being the degree of control offered by the 6 "gears"; in the Prius it's really just a 1 gear equivalent. This article is a bit old but it does explain what is going on when you use the "B" mode (/ "Gears" in an IS300H): http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/b-mode.html This is what makes the Toyota/Lexus Hybrid installations so sophisticated - they are not just a bolt on, and the depth of integration in the design requires the engine to be started/stopped many times in normal driving to facilitate this. Unlike most engines, the Toyota/Lexus hybrid regularly keeps the vales open in the ICE to allow it to rotate with minimal pumping losses. The downside of this is poor engine braking. Using the "B" mode / "gears" to slow down returns the valves to normal ICE operation which help the car to slow down, and on the IS300H, the 6 "gears" allows control over the gearing. More revs with valves in normal operation = more engine braking. So, as per the technical explanation in the above article and the experiences of drivers above, if you want regen, decelerate and/or use the brakes. The paddles do add to the fun (and their use wastes no energy if the battery is already full) but doesn't do anything to charge up the battery,

That's not regen - that's using the eCVT to slow you down. In fact, it uses less / no regen; much better off using the brakes if you want the make use of the otherwise wasted energy.

He said it has a "belt-driven CVT" I stopped watching it there.

Official recommendation in the attached is "Inspect 105,000 km (63,000 miles), after 105,000 km Inspect every 15,000 km (9,000 miles)" Official IS service schedule.pdf