Joolsd

I think I got the part wrong and horribly confused everyone. Sorry.

It does have wheel covers but I am not sure what they are called.  It like the image. I think a type of plastic that is sprayed to look metal. I'm struggling to pin them down on the internet.

Hi All, I was wondering where I might get cheaper wheel covers of a Lexus IS 250 2007?  I have seen a few online for £50-80 but I was hoping they would be a bit cheaper still.

The model I believe is

SKU: 42602-76010 CTP1

Best wishes

Julian

On 12/6/2023 at 4:48 AM, Mr Vlad said:

There's only one way to see if it's unrepairable. If the hole left is more than a few mm wide then it's possibly a new tyre But an old fashioned tyre place will repair it with a patch on the inside of the tyre. I've had that done with No issues and that was on a very fast Ford Mondeo. 

If the hole left is just a few mm then a Plug will seal that no problem. Also I've had that done and also really close to the edge of the tyre and again No issues and that too was on a different fast Ford Mondeo. 

As for wheel bearings. Plenty of very very good hubs on ebay and it's a dead easy job. Plenty of excellent videos on YouTube. 

Yeah, I got it fixed really easily, a clean hole. It was a relief as I could have done without the wheel bearing issue. 

I can't believe I missed it. This is what 'dunk dunk dunk' sounds like. Complete with washer.

17 hours ago, MrTrendizzle said:

If you're a dab hand at DIY the entire hub assembly is £60 on Fleabay. Once everything is off and disconnected it's 4 bolts to replace it. Most likely require a good breaker bar and lots of WD40 over the next few days.

You know I am just not that confident at mechanical things. Probably because of the lack of tools I have. I was tempted to put in the air filter as it looked quite easy.  But still got a pro to do it.

2 hours ago, J Henderson said:

I've had to replace both of my front wheel bearings fairly recently. Left one in 2021, and the other side this year. The cost was £300+ each time, supplied and fitted.

As Robert says, the sound associated with a bad bearing is more of a droning or grinding sound, that would be louder or more intense when the affected side of the car is under load.

Thank you. Yes it sounds like it. £300 ouch! 

2 hours ago, Robertdt said:

Also if you think its a front left, find a small roundabout at a quiet time and drive round it and the noise should get worse as your putting more load on that side of the car.

Thanks for the reply. I when out today, and I whilst in the car park I did a slow full right lock turn and I could hear it more prominently. I think a bearing could be the problem. 

Hi All. I think I have another problem in the pipeline. I think it is my front left wheel. It is now making a (dunk dunk dunk) and noise with the speed of the car, as if it is something to do with the wheel and frequency of the sound speeds up with the speed of the car. Sometime it is less noticeable, if the tarmac is smooth.  I wondered what this might be. I do vaguely remember going over a curve when turning left. I have had a look to see if it was a tire bulge, but I couldn't really see anything or feel anything. I was wondering if it was a wheel bearing maybe that has got pushed? I was wondering what it is and how much is it to fix roughly? 

There are a few problems that need to be addressed and I was hoping there wouldn't be another issue. I got my oil changed and filter so I am pleased with that now it is colder. 

Thanks for you help in the past, it is very helpful being on this forum.

Julian

Thanks to All

Well, it passed, but there were a few advisories. Just the tires are getting worn and the rear brake pads. But very pleased. I am going to get a oil change and the filters done soon if possible. 

I did clean the headlights with smokers toothpaste then rinse off with bathroom cleaner then soap and water. I think it help a bit.  Or the MOT examiner wasn't too bothered. They didn't mention them it at all. Not mention of the rust on the arches. My biggest fear was the exhaust systems, which has three quite large parts to it. But ok for now. The welding from  last year has held up. 

Thanks for your help. 

6 hours ago, Linas.P said:

Cam chain does not require replacement - it generally considered "life-time", but otherwise good for 300k miles. Regular oil changes obviously required.

Well that is relief then - 3,000 miles extra miles probably haven't done that much harm. Generally, oil breaks down with both time and mileage, so it is still not good idea to keep it for longer than 12 months. But 6,000 miles in 24 months is still much better than 20,000.

I would advise doing oil change before MOT, because that in itself could be reason passing vs. failing emission test, with fresh oil car will run more economically and cleaner. 

So is the car ~58,000 miles, that would be remarkably low, so you perhaps can add 30% to the numbers above. 

 

Thanks for the advice. All the horrors will be revealed tomorrow 

3 hours ago, Linas.P said:

Doesn't sound like anything unusual or horrible to me, EXCEPT no oil changes is very worrying. On these engine oil change is the upmost priority. Now I guess it depends of how many miles you did in 2 years time - if it is 10,000 then perhaps engine is still alright, event thought I would never recommend doing more than 6000miles or 12 months without oil change. You can neglect many things on these cars, but oil changes is not one of them. However, 20,000 miles without oil change could be situation where your engine is busted. 

The tyres needing replacement, that is not an issue, it is part of wear and tear, so you simply can count it as a cost of 2 tyres off the price, say £180. Headlights, yes - that is £50-100 to polish them, not a big deal. Exhaust rotten - that is common on these cars and all the cars of similar age. Central section is ~£600, I assume rear section would need doing if hasn't been done already, so £750 altogether.

I think part which really makes your car uneconomical repair will be rear arches, I now remember another thread... so you looking at £500-£1000 per side to fix. Now if you were to keep the car for yourself, then I can see temporary repair as viable solution - sand it down to bare metal, treat with rust converter and spay with durable paint, does not need to be pretty, but will prevent it from getting worse. However, if you were to sell the car, this is generally what will absolutely destroy the value of your car.

Now when it comes to selling the car on types like "we buy any car", I think with all you described it sound like good deal if they offer you £1350, however they usually assume that your car was serviced and that it does not have any serious problems, when they see no service records for 2 years and rust on rear arches, they may say £400.

All in all, what you described - the most concerning part for me would be lack of oil changes and lack of service of any sorts. Generally when buying IS250 - service records showing regular services is the first thing to check and top priority. So if we assume that hypothetically car like yours is worth £5000 in perfect condition, then no service records makes it £4000. We can extrapolate the rest of the costs fairly quickly, -£750 for exhaust, -£180 for tyres, -£100 for headlights, -£500 for full service and let's say very optimistically £1000 for rear arches. So we arrive at very decent price of ~£1470, not considering anything else that may be wrong with the car. As such £1200-1350 would be good deal, if you could get it.

So I guess in summary I can see where you are coming from - car seems to be beyond economical repair. You would need to spend considerable amount of money to get it fixed and any potential buyer would still be very suspicious of engine condition, because it was run for so long without oil changes. In your position I would take the offer from "we buy any car" types if it is ~£1200-£1350, else I would try to get it trough the MOT as that alone kind of fixes the price of the car at ~£1000 in certain circles (so called "beaters" - buys cars with MOT, to run for a year then scraps them) and then try to sell it on eBay as spares and repairs. It is important that you note all the issues in the listing honestly and list it as spares and repairs. I would not be surprised if you can get slightly more on eBay, lets say ~£1500. As well I would be inclined to list the car on Buy-It now price with the option for offer e.g. £1600 and set offers to auto decline below £1350. You can even say you were offered £1350 by certain sites that buys the cars, so that is your bottom price. You may get more money with auction (as people get competitive), but there is common catch - people bid-up your car and don't turn-up to buy, or turn-up and start negotiating which is just plainly wrong if all the issues where described correctly. So instead, I would just list it as set price with "offers" enabled, then I would require £100 deposit before pick-up. In such case if person start negotiating on agreed price, you can decline and keep deposit (again provided you described condition of the car fairly).

Thanks for that, that is good advice. 

I do very little driving in the year. Maybe 3000 miles every year for the past 3 years. Before that I had a service every year. That said, lack of action doesn't probably help as well. If the MOT is better that expected I could get an oil change. I don't think the Cam chain/belt has been changed ever. I don't think it has, as I bought it second hand with 44000 miles and it has now got 14400 odd miles. 

The oil change is on my mind. And also the filters that might need replacing. 

1 hour ago, Linas.P said:

IS250 generally are solid cars if maintained, but if not maintained they can become real money pits. Parts are expensive, there aren't many experienced technicians that can work on them and Lexus diagnostics costs are extortionate. 

What are the problems with your car? 

I guess based on that, mileage, spec and how much you want for it would depend if anyone is interest to buy it. Overall, IS250 prices very much stable for last 8 years and for last 3 they actually have increased. I have bought 2008 IS250 SE-L with 120k miles in 2014 for £4000 (I believe it was £3950 to be precise), yet 2008 IS250 SE-L with approximately 120k miles, will cost more or less the same today, if not even little bit more depending on condition. So in summary - these cars are worth decent money and there seems to be demand for them, the question then becomes how broken is yours and whenever it would be economical repair.

As far as where and how to sell... It is slightly challenging to sell broken car. It is illegal to sell car that is not road worthy, even if it has MOT. You can list it as "spares and repairs" on eBay, in which case what you selling is technically are bunch of parts and not a car, but you will receive significantly less in such case. So it may be the case that it would be better to spend money to fix the car before selling if you want to get decent price for it (again depends on what is broken). 

It will be hard to say until the MOT tomorrow. It needs a new rear right tire. The central exhaust was welded last year. I am not sure if it has held up to get through the Lambda emissions. I think the front light just need a clean. It hasn't had a proper oil change for a couple of years, apart from top ups. There is a bit of rust creeping in on the rear wheel arches. 

I was wondering if 'we buy any car' might take if at £1200. It is valued at about £1350, but that is just a figure a website put on it. 

Hello again. 

Lexus IS 250 (2007

My dreaded MOT is coming up and I don't really know if it will pass at all. Not to mention underlaying problems that are not included for road worthiness. 

My personal circumstances are still in the balance and I am not sure if I can keep the Lexus. It is the type of car nobody would touch unless they were a Lexus fan or have mechanic skills.   

I may have to keep the car off road and declare it SORN until I get stable again or just sell it. 

Just curious but Is there anybody who might be interested in buying it knowing there might be some issues that can be fixed? It has generally been great car but may need some work. 

On 7/30/2023 at 8:40 AM, Mr Vlad said:

You could save money by wire brushing the rusty areas. Then use different grades of wer and dry paper. Apply some Kurust then when you have the funds get the area painted. The kurust turns a blue colour not too dissimilar to your cars colour.

As for headlights. There are plenty of restoration kits available. I'm sure you've got an electric drill. Look on YouTube how to restore headlights. It's actually easy to do.

Yes I thought about maybe doing it myself. 

1 hour ago, Linas.P said:

This is pretty standard place to have rust issues on any car (the rear wheel arches), basically if stone chips are not addressed in time it will start rusting. The side panel goes into "C-pillar" and it is one big panel. Fixing it is not that big of the issue but in UK I would expect to pay ~£500 for that. The work is same as on any other rust panel, cut the piece out, weld replacement and paint... just blending is quite difficult on such big panel and on your paint (blue metallic).

This is not MOT fail, but will get more and more pricey the more you wait. Although, very unlikely to cause any structural issues you mentioned - it would take literally few decades before structural issues would happen from rear arches rust. And IS250 overall quite rust proof car, it only rusts on damaged areas and they must be left for a very long time. 

The headlights, do not look too bad, so no MOT issue yet (but it will become eventually). The lights can be simply polished - I do it quite often actually. Total cost ~£50-150, depending if you do yourself and depending how many tools you have and how many you need to buy. 

Thank you for your reply. The MOT is at the end of September. As you say it may not fail, on that but I will have to see which other problems occur. 

Hi All again. 

I was looking over the car and I can see that the rear left wheel rim is starting to rust and has become brittle. Is this one body panel that leads to the roof? I'm not sure? Or if this part of the bodywork a separate plastic section and somehow the designers managed to blend it seamlessly into the main bodywork which leads all the way to the roof. How easy is this to fix. I was thinking this would be quite pricy?

I have always had issues with rust in this area. I think one year I had it resprayed but I think it made things worst. I tried waxing the area but it hasn't helped. 

I would have thought this would fail on the MOT? If rust builds up enough it might weaken where the seat beat is connected. :(

The other issue is the misted up head lights. How easy is this to fix? Can it be done without replacing the whole light?

Best Wishes 

Julian. 

20 hours ago, doog442 said:

As above.  Best post on this forum @Joolsd ...loads of experience on there (apologies I didn't realise where this post had appeared)

https://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/forum/127-lexus-is-250-lexus-is-250c-club-lexus-is-220d-is-200d-club/

 

Is it possible to move this thread there? Or should I re-post?

14 hours ago, doog442 said:

Lambda will without doubt be related to the leaky exhaust. 

Shock absorbers are cheap £90 will get you a pair or £60 single....I'd research exhaust in the search function on here. I recall a company doing reasonably priced stainless steel but someone with more knowledge will help. 

Every reason to keep the car, even if you have to SORN and take your time to fund the repairs. You'd struggle to replace it at the moment with anything approaching the quality..best of luck. 

Thanks, 

Well I think the section of the exhaust is LEX5005H. Brand new it is about £350. Is it wise for a mechanic to weld the hole if it is not the catalytic part? 

Hi All. 

I have just had my MOT and failed on two exhaust leaks plus failed on Lambda readings. Also a leaking suspension. One private mechanic I saw just now gave me a quote for £845. He got it up on the ramp and said that the central part of the pipe would need replacing. (It has catalitic parts to it I think). I asked him if welding would be a cheaper alternative to buying whole part and he said slightly. Maybe a couple of hundred off. To make matters worst, he could not garantee that the car would pass the Lambda test, if the work was done. He said he was 95% it would pass, but he didn't want to hold it to that. He said it was possibly the holes in the pipe causing the high Lambda readings. 

I love this car but, I am not sure what to do.

Are there any private mechanics who specialise in IS250s from (2007) who might be able to give me a better price for the work? 

Will it still fail even if the work on the exhaust is done? Has anyone had experience of this. 

I was thinking of using webuyanycar and got a value of £1500. Are the cars reconditioned or just scrapped? It seems a bit of a shame to have to scrap it.

If I was to sell it could I sell to a potential Lexus enthusiast, with mechanic skills, at least it would be appreciated. And they would be better skilled to deal with random faults. 

I was thinking maybe I could keep it off road for a bit and declare it SORN, until I get my life on track. Since the Pandemic I have been freelancing as a video editor, but it has been tough getting the regular work and I just don't have the money I used to have when I first bought this car (And a few health issues which is causing anxiety).

Any ideas welcome 😞

Best regards 

Julian

Hello. I was wondering if it is easy enough to replace the rear indicator bulb on the left side? I tried to look at YouTube to see how people do it, but a lot of the videos are of slightly different models or the tail lights which involve taking off cladding on the back of the truck. The indicator is in the corner of the truck. The bulb has been glitchy for some time and I was able to temporarily push the bulb in the make it work, but now it has failed completely. 

Are the any good resources how to do replace the bulb on the Lexus IS250 2007 model. Assuming it isn't too technical? 

Thank you 

Best regards

Jools

On 12/6/2021 at 7:43 PM, Hondaman said:

 I paid over £400, but that was quite a few years ago.

My repair bill is coming to £512. Originally it was £425, but the guy doing it had trouble finding the right alternator (the wrong type turned up or something)😪. He says that the belt that is in the way and which drives a few things has to be replaced. Because the belt obscures the area where the alt part is. It's close the Christmas and mechanical resources are difficult to find I guess with regards to the alternator.(maybe someone can make me feel better?) I love this car but I hope this is the last expense for a while. 😂

10 minutes ago, Hondaman said:

Definitely the alternator. This happened to me a few years. No advance warnings whatsoever. Any competent garage can do the job.

 

It looks quite hidden away, it must be an expensive job. How much did you have to pay? 😂

Dear All,

I have a real problem which you may be able to advise on.

I drove to work on a fairly cool morning and I managed to get to work fine. But then things started to go wrong. I tried to straighten up my bad parking and suddenly the power steering started to go very stiff. I thought I'd turn the engine off then on again to check if it was still a problem. It failed to start (slight grinding noise and no ignition.) When pressing the button with the smart key in hand. 

So I rang the RAC and they came to me at my work. I went to start the car and it started ok and I thought (well that's odd) . I explained to the RAC guy that the Battery terminals were a bit loose, but he did say the Battery had plenty of charge. It is a fairly new Battery. 

After the day at work I went to the car and it started fine, I drove away but turning around the corner the steering went stiff again. 

I had to drive carefully, but the steering did lose up a bit after 5 minuets. As I got to within a mile of home, things suddenly took a nose dive. The heater started coming on and off, the radio on and off. The car lights started to get dimmer and dimmer and the steering became horribly stiff. (I'm thinking this could be danger so I will get the train from now on)

The RAC guy was great and is coming tonight to have a look, but he seems to think that this is to do with the alternator.
Would that sound about right? If so is this a specialist job or could any garage fix this problem? How much would it be approximatly?

Thank you in advance 

Best regards

Julian

2 minutes ago, johnatg said:

Yep - it happens. Probably caused by squeezing the fob in your pocket - sitting down or doing something active - sometimes by children playing with the fiob etc etc. The feature is so you can open the windows on a hot day without going to the car - er....is that useful, really?

It can be disabled in Techstream. If you haven't got Techstream a) all Lexus owners should have - or b) a dealer will do it for you - at a cost £££.

Thank you for a quick reply. I better go and learn what Techstream is as I haven't clue what it is. LOLS