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I was queuing in traffic earlier and noticed the AC wasn't blowing as cold as it normally does, so I turned it down a couple of degrees and then noticed that the engine temp gauge was one notch away from the upper limit. Immediately turned off the AC and left the queue, after I've driven for a minute it came straight back down. Obviously I will have it looked at but is that likely to have caused any damage? I checked the fans when I got home and both were spinning hard with the AC on. Thanks, Mark

It's too loud in my opinion. Probably enough to keep my 5yo awake if she wanted a nap in the car, for example.

Hello! I have a rear-mounted bike carrier for my RX-300. In order to comply with the law I had a 7-pin wiring kit fitted in order to mount a light board over the bikes, ensuring my lights and number plate are visible. The unit that drives the lights is a Logicon ZR2500 (http://www.pfjonesebay.co.uk/instructions/ZR2500.pdf). It is apparently a legal requirement that such devices emit a beep when indicating, the idea being that the audible beep makes it clear to the driver that the unit is connected and functioning correctly. My issue is that the beep is unnecessarily loud, long and annoying. On a long journey the indication beep would likely become very tiresome. I reckon I could probably tamper with it and get rid of the buzzer but then it would be illegal and potentially dangerous, so my question is does anyone else have an alternative one of these that perhaps has a less irritating sound? As far as I can tell it only needs to be audible, there's no legal requirement for it to be "bloody annoying". A clicking sound would be a much better solution that this god-awful buzzing. I'm hoping I can just swap the unit out for one that's less annoying. Thanks, Mark

Hi Colin, welcome to the forum. We might need more details, the car probably has loads of sensors. Which sensors are you talking about

That sounds odd. I wouldn't expect cleaning the throttle body or changing the oil to make any difference to the engine sound at idle. What kind of sound is it making and have you checked the dipstick since it was done? Are you sure they used the right oil?

I would definitely look into repair options before resorting to replacement.

Here you go John: https://www.rr-racing.com/RR-Racing-Supercharger-Kit-for-Lexus-IS250-RWD-p/is2scr2002.htm You won't get better bang for buck than that 🙂

I would just change the head unit for something modern and use siri.

Oblig

I do understand the urge to make a car better. I went through the same thing when I had an E39 BMW with a big thumping V8 in it. I loved that car and spent silly amounts of money on modifications. These days though I've come to believe that these cars, particularly Lexus, are engineered so well from the factory that anything I do is just going to make it worse. So now instead of trying to make it "better" I try to keep it as close to how it was when it was new as possible, because that's what I now see as the best the car could be. Service it regularly, put good quality tyres on it, change the transmission fluid and use OEM parts where it's not financially insane to do so. I think you get more out of these cars by doing that than slapping things like this on. But hey people like different things and I certainly went through the mod phase too. Get a Quaife LSD next, those are fun as hell 😄

Scotty Kilmer talks sense 😄 But in all seriousness if you want to do it then do it, life is short, have fun.

No doubt that's true, however it's mentioned as a possibility on their own FAQ: https://www.knfilters.com/faq/ And the internet is awash with reports of this happening: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=k%26n+air+filter+check+engine+light&client=safari&source=hp&ei=IKmNYIXNIIWSlwSQq62oBQ&iflsig=AINFCbYAAAAAYI23MDobU8jt7jSiPxgMl0tWGHuWgfwO&oq=k%26n+air+filter+check+engine+light&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyAggAMgYIABAWEB46CAguELEDEJMCOgUIABCxAzoLCC4QsQMQxwEQowI6BQguELEDOgIILjoICC4QsQMQgwE6CAgAELEDEIMBOggIABDqAhCPAToFCC4QkwI6CwguELEDEIMBEJMCOg4ILhCxAxCDARDHARCvAToHCAAQsQMQCjoICC4QxwEQrwE6BAgAEA1QhgxYxFtgqFxoKnAAeACAAXuIAesdkgEENzIuMZgBAKABAaoBB2d3cy13aXqwAQk&sclient=gws-wiz&ved=0ahUKEwiF3bKPmanwAhUFyYUKHZBVC1UQ4dUDCA4&uact=5 Hopefully it doesn't happen on the IS250 at all, or extremely rarely, I'm just saying you might want to check before spending all that money.

You might want to google a bit for "K&N" "check engine light" and your particular model. Not saying it will definitely happen but it seems quite common for these things to cause check engine lights.

Spark plugs? Oil change? 😄 Seriously, if Lexus thought they could get an extra 15bhp or an extra 5mpg by fitted one of those K&N air filters they'd have done it at the factory. Your best bet for both performance and economy is to keep the car as close to its original factory condition as possible.

Buy a decent set of tyres instead, that'll be a better upgrade 🙂

It doesn't increase power or fuel economy, none of those claims have ever been proven. If you understand how the systems work it will be obvious, the ECU will keep the fuel/air mixture at 14.6:1, all you're doing is adding noise and potentially increasing the odds of dirt getting into the engine due to the filter being more open than it should be.

You'll be out a lot more than that if the transmission fails. Solenoids are external to the unit itself and issues with them are typically electrical and not crazy expensive to rectify, however in this case the code indicated can also be caused by dirty fluid or a bad torque converter clutch. I would suggest either: 1) Reject the car and get a refund for your insurance. Insurance companies are obligated to provide a full refund within the first 14 days. 2) Take it to a trusted Lexus specialist and have them diagnose the issue for you. If the torque converter is about to fail, refer to 1) You /could/ also take it back the dealer that sold it to you, but they will just be looking to make you go away for as little money as possible. Changing the fluid may buy you some time, so they'll likely just do that and hope you go away. After the initial cooling off period you have far fewer rights and getting your money back will be a lot harder.

I don't think it's a case of not being able to fit them, the problem is Lexus say don't do it, I think because there's a possibility for the glass to crack and then you're talking £££.

That's normal. For iPhone connectivity I would just replace the head unit with something made by Kenwood but it's each to their own really.

You can buy OEM cases from Partsouq, I recently did this: Brand Number Description Qty Price Total Toyota 8975248110 CASE, TRANSMITTER HOUSING 1 33.23$ 33.23$ Toyota 8975150011 COVER, TRANSMITTER HOUSING 1 6.08$ 6.08$ Toyota 8975941020 SCREW, DOOR CONTROL TRANSMITTER 1 0.71$ 0.71$ Even with shipping from Dubai they work out fairly cheap. For the electronics you can get aftermarket units from https://www.car-keys-online.com that work well enough and fit in the casing, or you can buy them OEM from Toyota. If you buy aftermarket make sure it has the correct security chip for your car. Programming is a simple sequence of closing the door, opening it etc, let me know if you need it I can post it. HTH Mark

Even when it does work, anyone that can spot an autonomous vehicle will take the ***** pulling out in front of it because they know it'll always brake.

To the original point, I think if someone collects video evidence of a driver deliberately omitting turn signals three times it should be legally permissible to fire paintball weapons at their car. Same for cyclists who sail through red lights. Vote Mark for leader!

I'm very skeptical that this will occur in our lifetimes. Admittedly it doesn't need to be perfect, it only needs to be better than human drivers, but I still think it's a much harder problem than Mr Musk would have us believe. I will be gobsmacked if an autonomous car could traverse the windy narrow streets of central london anytime soon. Long motorway runs seems more achievable.

Are there specific manuals for specific years? I'd have thought the manual would be for a generation rather than a specific model year.

Hi Graham Is it a powered tailgate? Asking as mine has an electronic release but the lift is then manual. Check in the owners manual if there's an emergency release procedure, there may be a catch or something you can do from the inside.