AFlex

No I absolutely did not find it easy. The whole thing was one giant PITA from start to finish. I have particularly traumatic memories of the following steps getting the upper ball joint off, which was very stubborn - required a lot of hammering (i know you're not really supposed to do that with aluminium knuckles!) getting the strut bolt out, which was very rusty getting the actual strut to come out of the lower control arm - was a 2 man job and required a lot of bouncing of the lower control arm up and down spring compressors was probably the worst part - if you dont have them at 100% perfect opposite ends of the spring, there's a tendency for one side to want to twist around and then the whole spring bends into more of a slinky shape making it impossible to get the strut out I have the IS250 sport which I think has stiffer springs, making the job a bit harder Getting the new gaiter past the spring was also tricky, the spring likes to get in the way Getting the darn strut back into the lower control arm - again a lot of bouncing Tightening the strut bolts at 'ride-height' - not possible unless you have special kind of ramps. I sort of approximated by jacking up the lower control arm to approximately ride height. (A lot of people skip this step, but then you will just end up busting the rubber bushing in your strut and have to buy brand new struts) Hopefully you found this job easier than me!

Hi Vlad - sorry it took me a while to upload these photos. Old gaiter - totally busted: Old vs new - view from side: Old vs new - view from side 2: Old (top) vs new (bottom) - view from top: Old vs new - view from side/top: Photo on the car - you can see the rubber is already starting to compress where the spring ends at the top Gave all of my rubber parts a good spraying with AT-205 polymer - found out about this on the very excellent Scotty Kilmer YouTube channel! After a good dousing:

Given that newer IS250s (2008 onwards I think?) are fine for E10, there is definitely a way to future-proof our cars - Lexus UK just doesn't want to help us. They're not in the business of extending the life of older cars - they want to sell new cars! They are probably angry with the Japanese engineers for making the cars so freaking reliable in the first place For example, I would think, if you took parts off a junkyard 2009 model and installed on your older model, it would then work with E10. I wonder if anyone has looked into this yet? (I am gradually doing an overhaul of my 2007 model so I would be interested in this.) I'm guessing it's predominantly the fuel pumps that are the issue (there's one pump in the fuel tank and one on top of the left valve cover.)

Thanks for the confirmation guys. It's a big shame. I guess Lexus wasn't making enough profit on their servicing since this is probably one of the big money spinners for most dealerships (On newer cars, they must be laughing all the way to the bank - change the oil, top up coolant and shine a torch on a few bushings and charge the customer £500 ) But at £150 or whatever the minor essential price was, you can see how their profit margins could quickly be eroded. I wouldn't be surprised if the Covid lockdowns and safety procedures have put a real dent in most dealerships' profits and they needed to take major action to get back on track. Irony is, I'm sure they will lose many customers of cars that are 5 years and older, as the percentage price increase is huge. Looks like I need to find a new indie I can trust.

Just reporting back that I managed to successfully replace the rubber gaiter on both sides with the Febest part TSHB-003. Mr Vlad's method is just as good and cheaper, but if you prefer not to have to do any chopping of the rubber part, using TSHB-003 will probably be easier for a few extra quid. I got 2 of them for £40.50 delivered. TSHB-003 does not come with a ridge at the top for the suspension spring, but I think this is consistent with the official Lexus part. I have noticed that since being driven for a couple of weeks, it has formed its own groove so the spring has squashed the rubber and looks exactly like how the OEM did. I will try and post a few photos when I get a chance.

I have been getting my 10+ year old Lexus serviced each year at the main dealer for the last few years, using the essential care service option which was very price competitive. Having tried to book this year's service with my local dealer, I've been informed that they are no longer offering this as an option! Has anyone else heard of this? Does anyone know if this is across the whole of Lexus or is it just specific dealerships? I guess it may potentially be related to this new free warranty they are giving with their services. In which case, it makes no sense for anyone to get a service for a 10 year old vehicle because you don't benefit from the free warranty, yet still have to pay the same price!

This is a great idea for saving on service costs! Like you say, oil and filters tends to be the only thing they actually do during a service. Whilst the official Lexus service guidance says they will 'inspect' the other fluids such as brake fluid and gearbox oil and 'replace if needed', I wonder how often they decide that changing the fluid is 'needed' hehe. I would bet, not very often. Kind of goes against the whole principle of regular servicing in my opinion. What is the point if they aren't replacing things as preventative maintenance. In general, the service schedule suggested by manufacturers tries to be very 'one size fits all' but this doesn't apply in practice, and you don't necessarily need to keep to their defined intervals once you are out of warranty and don't need it to provide comfort to a skeptical buyer of your car. The most crucial aspect of a service is the oil change - skip this and you will ruin your cars engine. I change my oil myself in-between services, which allows me to extend the time in between my services by a few months (I tend to do very low mileage). Also helps if you have a keen ear to hear issues as they emerge rather than waiting for the service to pick it up.

Forgot to add, I am at very similar mileage, 100k

Hi @Mrt23 I have a 2007 Lexus IS250 (slightly older than yours) and I have a similar oil burning problem (sometimes as bad as 1.5l per 1000 miles). It only seemed to get bad over the last 3 years or so. In that time, I've moved to the city and so my driving style has changed considerably (lots of very short trips). I've spent quite a lot of time researching why on earth it is burning oil so ferociously and the most plausible answer seems to be that it's a common problem with modern Toyota engines since they use weak piston rings that dont have sufficient force to seal themselves against the cylinder walls. This improves the fuel efficiency of these engines since they create less friction against the cylinder walls, but as @Mihanicos explained, this is at the expense of your engine burning more oil and your catalytic converter (and your O2 sensors) are likely to fail sooner due to all the burned oil which is passing through the exhaust. The modern weak piston rings are very susceptible to getting gunked up from your dirty oil. What happens in the early stages is that the piston rings get all gunked up with dirt and carbon and they cease to give a tight fit against the cylinder walls. Oil can then get past the piston rings into the cylinders and is burned during the combustion process. If your problem progresses to the later stages, damage is unfortunately caused to the cylinder walls and this will not be possible to repair easily. How can you fix this? You can try to clean some of the dirt off using a cleaner like Marvel Mystery Oil (MMO) and see if this helps. I've just added MMO with my last oil change so will see how much this improves things. You will probably also benefit from cleaning the catalytic converter with something like Cataclean. I've just done mine and I can tell the engine is immediately more responsive. From now on, I will be doing oil changes twice per year (for me this means a change very 2,000 miles). I've now got all the tools to change the oil myself and it really is a very easy job and, if you buy oil in bulk, it only costs about £20-30 per change. This guy explains the problem with our engines quite well: Here's a video on how to use Marvel Mystery Oil

Mine is already in the mail so I will let you know how I get on or whether it turns out to be a failure! I gave them my reg and they checked against my car and said it was ok.... Notice that TSHB-003 only includes the rubber and not the top mount. So actually I would say £22 is actually quite a lot just for a rubber tube. TSS-058 (top the mount) doesn't seem to be in stock anywhere at the moment - I'm just gonna hope my top part is still in reasonable condition as I'm just replacing the rubber gaiter like you did. Also the bump stop doesn't seem to be sold anywhere. The official Lexus part includes the top mount, the rubber boot/gaiter and the bump stop - it's marked as 48680 in the picture below

Yeah agreed, sometimes it's hard to tell from the videos - only way is in person. The video above makes the fsport sound really loud but a lot of people had said it was quite a tame exhaust overall. Also I've noticed the temperature / weather actually makes a difference too. Seems to be louder on cold winter days

@H3XME Do you do much highway driving? Same as you, I also have the IS250 M/T (great car) and I got a magnaflow stainless steel exhaust from the US. I get horrible drone at 2500-3000rpm though. I never notice it driving in London, but as soon as I get onto the motorway it gets tiring very fast. Potentially interested in switching to the HKS if that's much better? Isn't HKS the same as what Lexus used for their 'F-sport' aftermarket exhaust in the US?

Also just noticed the FEBEST TSHB-003, which is specifically for the IS250, and only slightly more at £22 on ebay 🙂

Great post Mr Vlad I notice that this gaiter is basically a part for other toyota cars, hence why it needs to be cut - the part number you gave shows all the other toyota cars that it fits: https://jp-carparts.com/search.php?part_number=48157-22040 I also noticed that on JP Car parts you can get the genuine part for the IS250 (48680-53030) for around 77 bucks: https://jp-carparts.com/lexus/partlist.php?maker=toyota&type=242120&cartype=1&fig=4803 Obviously not as cheap as your fix, but just in case anyone did want to replace the entire thing. Out of interest, other than the rubber boot, are there any other parts that need replacing? What about the bump stop?

Thanks for the tip @DannyM I just changed mine and the whole performance of the car has improved. Like you say, no error codes beforehand. So it must have been a lazy sensor due to age. The other thing that also helped massively was replacing the fuel pulsation damper. I bought mine on jpcarparts - much cheaper than Lexus Parts Direct. Much smoother power delivery now.

I've ordered another gasket of the correct size for the other side on jpcarparts for only £6 (ok the shipping from Japan is a lot but I did have other things to order. Also if your order is under £130 or so it doesn't get any VAT applied by customs) So I think I will leave as is for now and wait to see if it leaks. Hopefully the heat moulds that incorrect gasket to the correct shape over time On a side note, really recommend jpcarparts, much more helpful than Lexuspartsdirect and prices are sometimes 70% lower.

Thanks for the quick reply Colin Would you say this needs urgent attention? Or is it the kind of thing that I could put off for a bit if it's not leaking?

Hi all. Before anyone states the obvious... Yes I've been a numpty. Changed my passenger side valve cover gasket yesterday (was going to attempt the driver's side today) and to my horror I noticed that I've used the wrong gasket part, 11213-31040. What made me think this was the right part is (a) Lexuspartsdirect (erroneously) lists 11214-31020 as the driver's side (so I assumed that 11213 is passenger side) and (b) it pressed into the valve cover with no problem. I am guessing that whilst they are different parts, they must be slightly different lengths, hence why 11213 is more expensive? Can anyone advise me whether I should go to the trouble of taking it off again? It was an absolute PITA to do and I really would like to just buy another gasket for the driver's side is possible. Any ideas?

Hi @e36er Do you have photos of the finished swap? I am planning on doing something similar so would like to know how it turned out! Cheers

Has anyone replaced these on their IS250? I have heard that they are key to the longevity of the VVTi system. Found the filters on ebay quite cheap (see below) and am still looking for where I am going to get the actuators/valves from. I've been doing my own 100K miles preventative maintenance and this is next on my to-do list, as well as the fuel pressure damper!

Correct. Looks like the most sensible swap but would have to find out how much it would affect my insurance premium as to whether it would be worth doing. I wasn't so much saying that the Lexus won't depreciate as much - I was saying that to perpetually own cars from 0 to 3 years and then trade for a new one is a mugs game - you will spend your entire life paying depreciation. I think this fact is lost on a lot of people because the motor industry has very successfully shifted our focus away from the list price to the "monthly PCP price". Very clever strategy, exactly the same strategy as is used with iPhones etc. If you buy a reliable car outright and keep it for 10 to 15 years you get much more for your money (I bought my IS250 Sport used for 10k and have since owned it for 7-8 years and it's still going strong. (And btw there is the same culture in the UK of preferring a brand new reg numberplate, which, being someone who is more of a 'driver', I have never fully understood)

I did mine a couple of weekends back. Basically did my own 100,000 mile tuneup. Spark plugs, PCV valve, Lambda sensors, cleaned throttle body, cleaned intake manifold, replaced a few of the aux belt pulleys. I would say if you have the right tools, the spark plugs are really not that difficult to do at home as a DIY. Only cost me around 80 quid for the plugs from lexuspartsdirect. You will pay much more even for just the parts at dealer or garage prices. If it helps, I can post a list of the tools I used. I don't have a big tool collection myself - I tend to add new tools as I need them for each specific job.

Have you also thought about doing the clutch delay valve delete? This guy on the US forums (Jeff Lange) did this and said it felt much better after

are you sure this isnt clutch judder you are experiencing? Usually caused by the dual mass flywheel failing, but potentially also the engine/transmission mounts

I think the blame for rev hang is often a bit misdirected at the DMF - try what I said next time you are in the car, and you will see there is something in the computer that kicks in after 10 seconds or so. The throttle response totally changes after first 5-10 seconds of startup, and the revs begin to fall much more slowly. I will try and record a video when I have time. Seems to me it's definitely an ECU issue (It's done to reduce emissions). Having said, it that would be worth trying deactivating ETCS to see if it helps... Yes I would also love a 350 but the engine swap (4GR) just seems too complicated. I know there is a guy Jeff Lange on the US forums who successfully did it but he literally works for Lexus and probably has a bunch of mates to help him out. Jeff himself says that the 3GR engine is a direct drop in - don't even need to change the engine ECU. People might say that it's better to just get a BMW 335i but I love the lexus reliability - these engines are just bulletproof and can keep going for 'spaceship' mileage, as someone very aptly put it on this forum. Not a fan of the European cars myself - they specifically seem to cater towards corporate fleet cars where there is this 3 year useful life mindset (after which they fall apart). Absolute madness when you consider how much a car costs you in depreciation if you only ever keep it for 3 years.