H3XME

I'll say what I say to everyone who thinks about buying the diesel. Get the petrol. MPGs are pretty much the same. You will get 25-30 around town in the IS250 if you're careful and 40+ on the motorway. London and back to Birmingham I average 44mpg with 3 adults in the car. (Manual car & 70mpg on cruise control).. It just makes sense to get this as they will cost less money in the long run as there are no diesel issues with EGR, injectors, turbos etc. IF you can, sell it and buy the V6. It's crazy how wrong they got it with this diesel..literally no benefits to owning a second hand one as they all go wrong one way or another.

10 hours ago, arnus106 said:

my car is driving me crazy. it starts out fine all the time hot or cold and runs like a dream and until (only sometimes not all the time) i stop on traffic lights it idles fine and i press aceclerator and it stalls but starts up striaght away and after 5 sec of pumping keeps going like nothing ever happened no hasitation either. just that light green and i want to drive off it just stalls and after pumping few times like 5 to 6 times it goes fine shoots up like a rocket ship and i also noticedits only doing about 23 miles to the gallon according to the onboard computer.

i have done..

EGR clean twice (just incase if i miss some dirty soot)

new MAF sensor

new AIR FILTER

oil change

Lambda sensor fully working

oxygen sensor reading sometime more then 1.2v ( cheap streetwise scanner )

lots of injector cleanner bottles in the diesel fuel (i buy fuel from asda)

im in the brink of thinking or breaking it for parts but its really a nice car in very good condition inside and outside and underbody is clean.

please help

looked through all the forums and can`t find any thing like my problem.

thanks

maybe do a full EGR delete as a last resort. 

otherwise I'd be interested in some interior bits if its black leather 🤣

19 hours ago, Hulley said:

Still no luck

Just take it back

6 minutes ago, Ozzay said:

Is this including labour?

DIY. I only paid labour when I had my clutch done ~£200 as stated in the reply

@Ozzay

In terms of the rough idles and vibrations, I have nothing to say. Never came across this and my car was on 176k.. 

as for service items, you seem to be paying A LOT. It also seems like you're buying an air filter every year? You don't need to.. they last 20k miles easy. 

My service costs over the 3 years and almost 50k miles of ownership were something like this:

Oil filter ~£5 x5

Oil ~£50 x5 

Elbow grease £0

New slider pins (front & rear) ~£50 for both axles

Rear caliper carrier bracket - £90 (one was seized)

Rear brake pads ~£20 (once every 3 years it worked out)

Front brake pads ~£25 x2 (once every 2 years it worked out)

Rear brake discs ~£55 (needed them once)

Front brake discs ~£50 (needed them once)

Elbow grease £0

Spark plugs - ~£120 (every 60,000 miles)

Elbow grease £0

Air filter ~£20 x2 (every 20,000 miles)

Cabin filter ~£10 x2 (every 20,000 miles)

Elbow grease £0

Clutch & gearbox flush (bearing, friction disc & pressure plate, gear oil) ~£250 - first ever clutch change at ~145,000 miles - DMF was good to reuse

Labour ~£200

Toyo Proxes TR1 & Accelera 651 Sport (semi-slicks) 225/40R18 - £60/tyre > £240/set once a year.. went through 3 sets of tyres in 3 years = £720

Grand total ~£1940... that's with a clutch job you wouldn't need on an automatic and excessive tyre wear from too much camber. 

Of course I didn't have any issues with gaskets etc, but I did blow up 3 M&L subwoofers that cost me ~£60 each and one amplifier ~£80... this was arguably self inflicted though. High volume high bass music.

I don't think it's too bad in terms of service cost.. minus the carrier bracket, slider pins and stereo issues these figures would be very similar to any other regular car. 

20 minutes ago, Mr Vlad said:

Blimey that is250 looks great in that colour. Well done you. 👍 

Thanks! I think so too, although my friends were telling me to wait until a black one pops up haha. I had two black ones and I like this "Desert Sage Metallic (6U3)" colour.. it's very rare. 

7 minutes ago, Mr Vlad said:

Eh up Lucas. That 300ZX looks sweeeeeet. Great in white. I didn't know they rust like hell and that surprises me. I'm sure you'll get it sorted over winter. Look forward to updates on it. So is250 number 3 eh? Is it manual box again as I know that was part of your requirements but not confirmed. 

The 300zx is fine just the wrong of the year to drive it atm. Need to get new fuel lines made as they’re corroded (was on the latest MOT) 

yeah manual, but the one I’m going for on Saturday is 06 so lower tax bracket luckily. It’s also in a rare green/jade colour like some r34 skylines were offered but I will have to fully rip out the interior and swap a black one in as its currently poverty spec cream cloth, no nav or camera.. I’ll be going down the route of android head unit, 3IS 2014+ front seats again and make it nice. It’s a low mileage example, full service history and for good money. It’s just a bit rough in every way other than mechanically.. luckily I can do everything myself to make it the spec I want. 
 

Update time.

There are some exciting changes coming very soon...

As you may know, I was looking for a 300ZX some time ago, but I couldn't find one that's good enough. Ended up selling my IS250 and went for '99 Toyota Mark II JZX100. As much as I liked that car for what it COULD be, rather than for what it was, I swapped that for a '94 Nissan 300ZX because 1) the old-school automatic in the JZX100 just isn't for me 2) always wanted a 300zx.. 

So here it is. 1994 300ZX non-turbo, 2+2, manual with TT tops.. 

Now, this car is now 28 years old. It has its little gremlins and needs a little TLC. Not to mention these just rust before your eyes so there is no way I want to drive this over winter. This leads me to my Lexus related content again.. 

I really struggle to find something within the budget that's: RWD, Manual, min. 200hp, LSD and not silly money..

Well you guessed it. I am getting another IS250, this will be my third one and let's hope it's gonna be the last one..at least for a good while. They have been such good cars to me previously it's hard to ignore it when it comes to getting something else, especially since the IS250 does everything I want. 

Keep an eye on this thread.. I will be doing some bits to it when I get it. 

1 minute ago, MattDH said:

Thinking of a change of the 2nd Gen IS. Not 100% convinced myself yet, had a few offers but waiting to see if some other Lexus model intrigues me 

There's a JDM import GS350 on eBay for 4,5k... I was tempted myself since I'm looking for a daily again. Looks very tidy and only 60k miles..the only thing that put me off was the fact they don't have the paddle shift 😑

1 minute ago, zoricib said:

@MattDH think I saw your IS listed for sale on Facebook? any reasons you're looking to part ways with it?

Probably because of the 23% extra duty to be paid on fuel from March 🤣

I'd have it for £6k 😅

It's either 1) Written off 2) On a private plate

Why wouldn't you put a private plate on an older car? You have more of a reason to put it on an older car to hide its age if you already got the plate. My IS250 was 14 years old ('08) and I also had it on a private plate,  not because I wanted to hide its age, but because it's my plate and I paid for it. Might as well use it.

As for reliability, my car was on 176k miles when I sold it. It's was mechanically perfect, like Linas said, mine too was on standard bushes, alternator, water pump etc. I don't see why it wouldn't do 300k.. It was serviced properly every 6-7k miles. However it will never reach 300k because the new owner wrote it off 4 weeks after buying it off me... 🥲

I'm already looking for another one. 

On 10/31/2022 at 4:28 PM, TadasC said:

such a shame... But will it be parted out?

haha, yes and no. The new owner of the car (he's the one who crashed it), will be transferring all the good bits onto a new IS250 he's buying.

On 11/11/2022 at 8:13 PM, MattDH said:

Anyone done a ISF seat swap into 2nd gen IS250/350? 

I think I'd prefer the slightly more bolstered seats that the ISF has in my 2nd gen IS350. Wondering if it's a straight swap or not. Ideally want to keep the heated seat function. Not too fussed about losing ventilation feature

Or better yet a GSF/RCF seat swap into the IS250/350. I know someone has done it on their 3rd Gen IS but nothing about 2nd gen.

 

I swapped 3IS seats into my 2IS.. it's a bolt on. Same mounting holes etc. Seat belt buckle needs transferring over by that's a matter of one 17mm (I think) nut. As for heat & side airbag... connector heads are different shapes. Same amount of pins IIRC. If you split them and connect with the correct connector head it will all work. I swapped for those seats to improve my seating position... the IS300h seats I got weren't electric therefore go lower. 

So.. 3IS seats fit. RCF & GSF seats are exactly the same. Normal RC seats are the same as IS300h so yes, they will all bolt on, but you gotta mess with the connectors to clear the lights. I never bothered. Losing heat & ventilation didn't bother me, but I did have an airbag light on the dash from the curtain airbag. You can buy a resistor to plug in to clear the "fault" or like I said, swap the connectors over. 

and as for ISF seats, yes, they will fit no issues. Same plugs, same everything. It's the same car at the end of the day.

3 hours ago, zoricib said:

I'm looking to get all 4 powered coated and the guy I plan on using doesn't do same day. Might go with a different company if I can't get my hands on some wheels

WheelFurb in Tamworth and Dudley. Great service, great prices and offer loaner wheels & same day.

9 hours ago, JAP MAN said:

Bought my  2009  is 250 in July for £5.000  Full s  h  only done 69.000  miles  , Drives like a DREAM   10 stars on Everything     Apart from the Bumpy ride  ...... Why Build a Fantastic Car and not sort that out ............. Heard people say      its a sport coupe     thats what it should be like      YER but its a Lexus , not a Ford Escort    Before i bought my Lexus i had a Toyota Avensis 1.8 2004   Never felt a bump in the Road     ...... but i love the Lexus so ill put up with it   , Anyone else think the same , 

Define bumpy ride? You think the suspension isn't soft enough? I would say that for a "sporty" saloon, IS250 takes the road imperfections really well. Some say the car is a little stiff, so you know when you go over bumps and dips in the road but I think that's a positive. It's not a GS or LS, you want to feel the road for more precision. aka sporty saloon. 

Maybe have a look at the suspension, it could be on lowering springs, 15mm springs will obviously be a little stiffer therefore bumpier, but if it''s on standard shocks & springs, there's nothing wrong with it.

6 hours ago, LenT said:

Excuse my ignorance, but have you checked the clearance with the car fully loaded?

Haha this reminds me of when my dad got 10mm spacers for the rear of his E92 330i and the wheels would scrape quite badly against the arches when going over bumps and dips. Safe to say they didn’t stay on the car for long. 
 

i never had this issue on my car but it was on coilovers that I had set to the stiffest setting for this exact reason.

1 hour ago, AFlex said:

Take a look at the US forums - a guy called Jeff Lange is running a pretty sweet clutch setup (SMF) and he has upgraded his IS250 to a 350 engine. Impressive stuff

If it’s the guy I’m thinking of he had a bad time doing that swap. Things weren’t as simple as they sound, but a manual is350 would be the dream

18 minutes ago, Lex_utor said:

What's this DMF you are all talking about in the V6 petrol?

And if mine is not that bad yet, should I hurry to change the clutch? 

Dual Mass Flywheel

15 minutes ago, Lex_utor said:

Yeah, mine was also like that when I bought it. I wonder if I should change the clutch right away or wait till it gets worse. I can drive around it, as you say. 

@karlfullard this judder you’re talking about. I had the same on mine basically when the clutch was too worn to grip properly. Don’t stress over changing your flywheel, get the clutch bought, drop it off and tell them check over your DMF - if it’s not got heat spots, it will be fine. Judder could also be a result of a worn release bearing. Dont just assume it’s the DMF aka the worst case scenario. Go to the garage and ask them to check if the flywheel is reusable. Simple as that 

1 minute ago, Mr Vlad said:

Oh dear Lucas. I'm disappointed you think Rover cars are *******. They're actually superb and I've had 12 of them. The problem with the solid flywheel replacing DMF was particularly with the diesel cars. Oh the Rover diesel cars had BMW engines. I'm not knocking your knowledge but what I've stated is Fact. I'm talking historically and about 15 years ago maybe 18.

Okay, on a diesel I'm with you on that...  diesel engines vibrate A LOT more than normal petrols. 

19 hours ago, Mr Vlad said:

Changing from a DMF to a Solid Mass flywheel can be Catastrophic. Why? Because of the weight difference. Its been the case where such a swap has been done and a massive vibration because the crank is out of balance and gives up. Its happened to RoverMG cars (I know from my Rover years and the forum). It's probably happened to orher brands of cars too.

It's not really the case on these cars. Rovers are infamously 💩, my mate with a 350Z (3.5L V6), went to a Competition Clutch Solid flywheel from the factory DMF and the difference was minimal. It's better for performance purposes but doesn't cause faults otherwise well known aftermarket clutch manufacturers wouldn't offer such products. They are all being tested - I worked for an aftermarket performance parts distributor and we dealt with a lot of brands such Competition Clutch, Exedy, Helix, HKS, Mishimoto, Whiteline, Cusco, Goodridge, HEL, PFC, EBC you name it. I know how these top level manufacturers test & push new products out. 

On 11/2/2022 at 6:04 PM, karlfullard said:

Looking for recommendations on where to find a clutch and flywheel replacement kit as I’m struggling to find one other than an Exedy kit on eBay for £1100. 

Hi Karl,

I had the pleasure of replacing the clutch on my manual IS250 a couple of years ago. It had its first ever clutch change at 140,000 miles. I bought EXEDY OE replacement clutch. I cost me ~£300 then but I see they are over £500 now... (Part number: LEK2001).

A1 Clutches have replaced it for me and charged £220 I think. They replaced the fluids too.. 

I was worried I would need a new flywheel as well, but seeing the OEM flywheel was ~£900+VAT from the main dealer, I was either going to buy a solid flywheel from Fidenza from the states (I wanted a solid one anyway as it would be lighter and better for drifting & spirited driving) for £500-600 delivered.

I ended up going to A1 Clutches with my exedra kit that included cover, disc & bearing and asked them to let me know if the flywheel needs doing too. Majority of the garages will tell you that you should replace the flywheel as well to get more money out of you, but that's only the case if your flywheel has heat spots - which you shouldn't get unless you're particularly bad with riding your clutch or doing burnouts a lot. 

Long story short, my flywheel was fine to reuse, didn't need skimming or anything (not really possible on DMF anyway) and the whole clutch change cost me around £500...

I had a quick look and I would recommend this BluePrint clutch kit for £338... https://www.autodoc.co.uk/blue-print/7981920 I've used many BluePrint parts in the past, they are OE quality with the brand stamp & mark up..  

Old clutch for reference.

You will have no issues, however I recommend 225s all round. Nothing better than a nice balanced setup for balanced handling. 

1 minute ago, morgan_sa said:

I think that's probably the reason, although looking at the TRD shifter it does appear to have a slight bend; the IS250 kit I've seen so far (produced in the US) appears to require installation from underneath the shifter, but at $390 plus import taxes I don't think I'm ready to take a leap that far just yet 😅

Don't bother is my opinion. It's far from a bad shift feel for a non sports car. There are better/other things you can do to improve the general feel of the car. The bushes below transform the steering feel. As for gearbox, I'd consider going for a solid flywheel when you eventually change the clutch. 

https://www.tegiwaimports.com/hardrace-is250-350-gs350-450-front-lower-control-arm-bushing-harden-rubber-2pcs-set.html?gclid=CjwKCAjw5P2aBhAlEiwAAdY7dBTO8GkKr4EnXXeF_12pXDiMtovuZQ4Nj0VTeDmPi8C0Av-2b4cV9BoClQgQAvD_BwE 

Well there goes my pride & joy. It's been with the new owner for 4 weeks and sadly it got 'a little' out of hand. RIP my old car.