McShmoopy

One good tip to do mate whatever tyres you get, run 225 in the front and 245 in the back instead of the 255, theyre a little thin but make no real difference to the drive and they are quite alot cheaper! 

On 5/25/2024 at 10:08 AM, Tyre Tread said:

Mine has the same issue from both the mirrors and the door handles. 

The paintwork otherwise is excellent.

58 minutes ago, 2AD FHV said:

Hi, I have the same issue, it doesn't show up as much on mine, as its silver. I took it a local bodyshop, who is confident he can buff it out as it hasn't penetrated the lacquer.

Oh yeah if you polish it out slightly you can get the staining out, my concern was more addressing the root cause. After deep cleaning my car I realised that some of the corrosion has in fact spread to my body work so I reckon Im going to take the wing mirror apart and see if I can sand the corrosion and give it some paint to prevent further staining and then polish the bodywork clean. I'll provide some updates to show how I get on, Im just nervous removing door cards incase I break any clips haha 

Black does look amazing but to get the max benefit you need to dechrome your car and swap the reflectors for tinted or smoked ones, Ive had some HCmotion V1's for 2 years and my inner left tail light has just failed so I may end up replacing with red ones instead to look OEM plus 

2 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

Remove the cawl cover an check. That windscreen has what appears to be heaters for wiper blades, does not mean it has actual heating element - I can send you the picture of how wiring for that looks like (actually I have spare wiring as well).

If you want to retrofit it properly, then I am not even joking - it is engine out job as the harness in which the wire runs is behind the engine and all the brake lines (just happened to change it recently and I wanted to burn the damn car), but if you just get the plug for the element and then run your own fuse to the button (I also have a button and the fuse), then I think it should be relatively easy (as long as actual windscreen has heating element - should be 3 wires coming out of windscreen)

Can it already be in the harness... could, be, but I doubt it for 2010 car. Mostly what I have seen the early cars had "extra wiring", as the time gone by they optimised a lot and I think by 2010 they must have had separate wiring for specifically F-Sport without windscreen heaters. That would be my guess.

The windscreen definitely has the three wires so I'm hoping there may already be some wiring in place for it, if not then I wont bother if its a fairly involved job as I do know the heating element doesnt do all that much, its just nice to have if the wiring is already there. Ah I didnt realise it may need an additional fuse I may have to investigate and get back to you

One thing I did want to possibly retrofit was the rear blind shade as I've seen some success from the Club Lexus in the US, borrowed my mums car and have to say for those drivers with the absurdly bright headlights that rear shade comes in VERY handy, that is fairly plug and play from what I've seen but I'll need to see if the wiring is in place already...

Hi guys

deep cleaning my car I noticed that my 2010 f sport has the heated windscreen element in place, made me think that the wiring is already in place for that and that it probably could be retrofitted. Has anyone managed to do this? I haven’t pulled apart those dash buttons but I had a BSM retrofit planned so I thought it might be an idea to throw that in also 

Hi guys

I've been fitting a few aftermarket reverse camera for various Lexus IS's and each time I've crudely adapted or roughly made a passable reverse camera bracket but they've never been exact or precise, until now atleast. For anyone unable to get the OEM reverse camera working or want an upgrade for their android head units, I've managed to get one custom made and its bang on exact so very pleased with it. This will fit the standard reverse camera bracket for these style of cameras (in this case a Teyes AHD Sony lens camera). I'll probably stick the file online for sale but for any LOC member I'm willing to share the file for free if you private message me, here's how it looks. 

On 5/24/2024 at 10:18 PM, Carlh said:

Ok people. I changed my mad sensor and my other oxygen sensor on the pipe. My engine management light was on along with trac control light. Very sluggish upto 2200rpm. Tried disconnecting battery for 15 minutes. Took it for a drive, used an obd2 to try and delete the code. But nothing. When I start it up white smoke comes out. I have run the engine and disconnected mad but it doesn’t cut engine out. Please help

was the MAF sensor faulty, what was the reason for changing it? You can normally just clean the MAF sensor and the throttle body yearly and thats good enough maintenance 

1 hour ago, IS250CarGuru said:

Just got my car back from my shop. They said the lights were blowing my brake fuse.

You'll have defective VLANDS get a refund on them and buy another set they shouldn't be causing any blows 

18 hours ago, IS250CarGuru said:

I used a jump box that I had and took out the battery to bring it to my local mechanic store to get the battery health checked and that wasn’t the issue.

This may be a shot in the dark but try unplugging the connectors for the tail lights and see if the car can start, from what I remember certain aftermarket headlights (HCMotions specifically) produced a VSC warning due to pre facelift vehicles not supporting LED tail lights out of the box so these came with a resistor to support them. 

Could be a similar situation depending if youre pre facelift 09 or post facelift 09 that the tail lights arent necessarily compatible or just straight up damaged / non working 

35 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

It is the later - servicing brake callipers is simply not part of service manual. In principle Lexus considers brake callipers a disposable item/unit which is not serviceable. They view - callipers simply get replaced every 3-5 years, with every 3rd set of pads or something like that.

Obviously, it doesn't have to be that way and simply taking them apart and greasing them with either dedicated brake lubricant (I tend to use molybdenum grease) or indeed simple red rubber grease once a year is all they need.

As for the pad choice - OEM are simply very dusty and also aggressive on disks. I think that is by design and IS250 brakes are undersized for the weight of the car. I tried Brembo and Bosch and both kind of sucked, just worn out quickly. I tried one of the EBC pads, can remember maybe Yellow or Green stuff (street or OEM+) and they were good in terms of wear and dust, but they squealed (it is possible it was not pads fault, but that is my memory of them). Mintex also squealed, but they were on Mintex drilled disks which altogether were bad idea. Then at some point when I was giving the car away it needed whole thing to be done, I got some cheap stuff, Brembo disks (as they were the cheapest) and Eicher pads... and as far as I know they were alright, sort of same performance as OEM.

I guess the point I am trying to make - IS250 brakes are just generally not great, so pads and disks choice doesn't make huge difference. Make sure to avoid drilled disks as they easily overheat warp, but apart of that 99% of braking difference is in the tyres, not the brand of pads or disks. So invest in tyres, or get brake kit from IS350/GS300/GS450 etc. The 4 piston fronts are huge upgrade in sense of maintenance, much less dust, much less wear on disk, smoother braking (less grabby), but the rear slider pins will always remain an issue, just bad calliper design. 

P.S. I suggest you use Autodoc, ECP sometimes have huge discounts and work out better, but on average Autodoc is better and there were rumours that some of the more premium brands are sometimes faked in ECP (Denso, Brembo etc.).

Great insightful response as always Linas! The big brake upgrade is something I do wish to do down the line and Im planning on getting Michelin Cross Climate 2's all around in addition to the RCF LCA upgrade to prevent premature tire wear 

Sounds like the Battery, for anyone who doesnt know theres a button where the courtesy dome lights are labelled "Door" its always good practice to turn this off when working on the car for long periods of time as it disables all the lights when doors are open which is very handy. 

3 hours ago, Slammed_teabag said:

nice one dude! I'm defo not going to go cheapo on the brakes the cars too heavy for it,  yeah I was informed by the previous owner that the slider pins seize up, f knows why? 

cheers for the advice!

 

The two main reasons are the rear ones atleast are badly designed with a blind slide bolt design and awful rubber boot which is fiddly to get on, and the second that most mechanics including lexus technicians arent very thorough and don't do things properly ! As far as Im aware greasing the slide pins with silicone paste or appropriate lubricant isnt part of their service itinerary, which is why they tend to seize up. 

If you can successfully refurbish the brakes one time and just periodically grease the pins every 6 months to a year you should have trouble free brakes 

EDIT: Binh from the US has a good video on the rear calliper slide bolt maintenance thats worth a watch

Ended up playing it safe and ordered a new carrier slider, I was going to get a whole calliper from a breaker for £50 but didnt want to risk that being seized and having a repeat problem. Hopefully the right hand carrier slider isnt seized like the left, once thats done I'll attempt to drill it out and see how it goes 

50 minutes ago, Slammed_teabag said:

Hi all! , 

        new to the forum, I'm sure there's a thread about brakes for the is250, id rather just shout out instead of searching endless pages, what brake disks/pads do people put on their is250?

       is it just a euro car part job or is it something a bit more specific, obviously it comes down to budget but I just want to know what the options are 

 

   Cheers 😎

Hey Sam, most people tend to do just do euro car parts and try and get premium brand pads when theyre on sale like EBC or brembo, some swear by OEM only but just see what your budget allows. Main thing is if youre doing rear brakes make sure the calliper slide pins or piston isnt seized up as thats a very common design flaw with these cars, silicone paste for the pins and new rubber boots if theyre worn or degraded and cleaning all the components thoroughly is a good start 

13 minutes ago, Vintagesixtysix said:

Sadly…. I think this is probably best advice.

But…. If you have the time to be off road and inclination.

Fill the hole with penetrating fluid…. Literally fill it and soak for a couple of days minimum.

Then learn or get someone to drill and tap it / or drill out completely + a bit of heat will help.

No guarantees even then it’ll budge….. but potentially you learned a new trick and there’s a certain satisfaction of rescuing yourself. 😁

If that all seems a bit too much hassle…. Revert to line one.

Good luck.

To be fair drilling out broken bolts is something I could do with some practice on so I may try and source a carrier slider just so I can get the brake job done and on a free evening try and get the buggar out as you've suggested!  

17 minutes ago, steve2006 said:

Given how seized the pin is I would go for a new carrier bracket.

The only other option would be to drill a hole in the other side and then try and punch the remains of the slider pin out but it looks too far gone to me.

Cheers for the advice Steve, that was my thoughts exactly but wanted a second opinion. A shame as I just managed to refurb my rear callipers only for the front to let me down haha, not a fun expense !

Did a first attempt at doing my front brakes as it was making groaning nosing indicating pads and discs were worn, unfortunately during the process of trying to remove the slide pins it ended up snapping on me! Turns out both of these were complete seized up and while I was able to get the first out the second snapped. Do I have any options for extracting this and replacing the slide pin or is it a new carrier slider necessary?

1 hour ago, DnG said:

I've heard about that, is that actually a thing? Are the 2007 models still that picky? I might as well save up and get a 2009-2010 model lol

I did some research and it seems that the MK2 has problems with the following:

• 1 specific VVTi problem
• water pump
• brake calipers stuck
• the engine slushing up

Are these something I should be actively looking for when I see one? Is there a way to check for the VVTi problems?

That was a really good read, a lot of info thanks.

My mechanic mainly works on JDMs like GTRs (the 2k BHP full carbon GTR, if you're around Birmingham or just heard of it, that's his), Skylines and Hondas/Lexus', even he advised me to get an IS250, so that shouldn't be a problem. Now, you said that parts and repairs are expensive.. Uff.. I've only heard good things about that, cheap parts and what not, I already have a german money pit, wouldn't want a japanese one as well, but damn I love the car and I want one.

I've been mainly looking at SE-Ls as everyone recommends them and I like the wood trim, reminds me of my dad's old Mercedes. Also, I was a bit let down by the fact that only the 2010 upwards has folding mirrors but if you say they can be retrofitted, I'm all in. I've already retroffited most of the things that can be on my BMW and my dad's car, so I guess a 2005 - 2007 would do. Problem is, some 2005 seem to not be clean air zone tax exempt in Birmingham which is bs, if I check 2 2005 is250, one is exempt and the other isn't so I'd have to look at a 2006-2007 model. Insurance is also a b*ch, for a 2010 model insurance is around £1.800 and for a 2005 it's £3.200 !!, so I'm limited by my budget, availability of the SE-L model in good shape, insurance and the bs clean air zone tax... Hopefully, in 2-3 months time after I save some money up, a decent one will pop up for sale. There is a 2010 model, black, really clean looking at a garage in Birmingham but the things I heard about them and their reviews, really put me off, they don't let you test drive, they want a deposit they won't give back, just to see the car, someone had their car on fire after a few days, most cars from them seem to sh*t themselves after they leave the lot.

Also, I keep seeing the the word "FLSH", what exactly does that mean?

FLSH will be Full Lexus Service History, ideally the facelifts address alot of the common issues but as most members state if you regularly service the car you shouldnt have major issues. I just bought a facelift 2009 IS250 for my mum and it did encounter an issue with seized callipers recently after 8 weeks of ownership, more specifically the previous garage who did it forgot one of the retaining pins and this caused the Piston to seize and excessive brake pad and disc wear, whatever car you decide to get its always good to inspect the rear brakes yourself and make sure they're in good order before you have issues down the line. I always tend to do a yearly check on the rear callipers and re-grease with silicone paste if necessary. If thats not something you're handy with taking it to a decent garage / mechanic you trust is the next best thing. 

Having worked on facelift and non facelift vehicles, the facelifts are nicer but usually not worth the large cost but if you can find a good deal it's worth considering. I've always been lucky and have managed to find facelift vehicles around the £4k to £5k mark. 

I’ve got some experience fitting these teyes units, are you guys still having audio issues? 

For that budget IS250 is the way to go, go either for a top spec SE-L or F sport ideally, anything else isn’t worth it imho. Dont let high miles out you off my f sport is on 160k miles and aside from the exhaust falling off from old age no real issues as such, just keen on top of maintenance snd you’re good.

V6 f sport has a sportier intake so it does sound great, can be improved with a sound generator from a 3IS that makes it sound like a baby v8 

On 5/10/2024 at 12:08 AM, McShmoopy said:

How have you gotten on with the seized piston? Turns out this is an issue on my rear right calliper so I've opted to buy a piston rebuild kit and replace mine as it was extremely hard to push in so I imagine it's corroded or seized up. 

Just on this,I  did a calliper rebuild with the new piston and seems to be behaving great now. I had to get my brother to assist with depressing the brakes while I inspected and had to open the master cylinder reservoir and it took 5 minutes as the brake piston was very seized up, when the piston was freed I very quickly clamped the brake line using some brake line clamps from Hilka. Cleaned out the area where the piston was with brake cleaner, removed old seals and used the provided red lube on the piston and seals, using a regular piston tool this went in like butter in comparison to the old and bled the brakes after. No more heat kicking out from the rear brakes now! 

Hey guys

I'm planning on opening up the wing mirrors of my IS250 to replace the puddle light bulb as well as the glass and noticed that the staining running underneath the wing mirrors is quite bad, from what I've researched apparently the aluminium in the wing mirror frame tends to get corroded from rain and salt and this causes the dripping / staining underneath. I was thinking to get some corrosion inhibitor and give the whole area a clean, has anyone else managed to address this also and have any tips?

On 12/1/2023 at 9:55 PM, bixtape said:

Hi guys. So one of my caliper is on its way out and need urgently to get it sorted. 
I’ve got the calipers from rock auto but I’ve just found out that getting brake lines for the is250 is an absolute pain in the *****. 
Was thinking about getting braided ones but was told it will take a month to get them , so I’m screwed. 
I’ve just ordered Borg and beck from eBay which might come in time for my appointment with the garage and I’m wondering if they would be any good ? 
is it worth putting them on or keeping the current ones I have to then replace the calipers and eventually order the braided ones and again do brake line replacement ? 

Dont know if you've sorted this, unless theres something wrong with the brake lines I wouldnt go out of your way to change them. Its a nice upgrade but I wouldnt bother unless youre doing a big brake upgrade for example,

The callipers can usually be salvaged if you grease the slider pins and replace the degraded rubber boots, in my case I've got a sticking piston so I've ordered a replacement piston from eBay 

On 3/11/2024 at 1:53 PM, Thracing-44 said:

Had a free-ish weekend so spent a few hours fitting some new rear discs/pads and wheels to the Lexus. 

I picked up some Tesla Model 3 wheels with 4 almost new Michelin Pilot sport 5's on for a steal, I quite like the design of them without the standard wheel covers, fitted the style I was after on this car. The tyres are 235/45/18's slightly bigger than I'd have wanted, but couldn't pass up on the deal.  The ET on the wheels are slightly better than standard, the rear may benefit from 20mm spacer to get them perfectly in the arch, but for now I feel they look far better!

 

   

 

Reason for doing the rear discs was after a trip up to my brothers I noticed the rear left was very hot, thought it must be the slider pins. Turns out the slider pin that usually causes issues was perfectly fine, fortunately someone has definitely looked after the car in the past. I left the bottom pin in place, cleaned and applied plenty of new grease, the top slider on both sides I replaced with a new pin and boot. The left caliper piston had been pretty tough to push back in, I attempted to free it up as much as possible without actually taking it out, after a short trip with the new set up I noticed the disc still get very hot, so the piston's definitely sticking. New rear caliper is on its way, gives me a reason to change out to rear lines for a braided set I got with the car and to get some new fluid in the lines, hoping to have that sorted this weekend. 

Fair to say the old discs had served their time 😄

    

The next issue to sort with be a CEL I've sporadically had since owning the car. Of recent its been a P0420, but has also been a P0137 both for Bank 1, sensor 2. After doing a bit of research it could well be a leak prior to or around the downstream sensor and my mid pipe to cat exhaust flange isn't looking great at all, for how well preserved the underside of the car is, the exhaust flanges have taken a beating haha. Thinking it may need to go to an exhaust shop to get them to cut and weld on 2 new flanges and the cheaper option, or I get a custom mid pipe made at the same time. 

That being said the cars driving well with the new alloys/tyres on, it's already eliminated a pulling to the right I had with the old alloys. Still going strong at 157,000 miles!

How have you gotten on with the seized piston? Turns out this is an issue on my rear right calliper so I've opted to buy a piston rebuild kit and replace mine as it was extremely hard to push in so I imagine it's corroded or seized up. 

On 4/27/2024 at 11:16 AM, Dave Borrie said:

Thanks McShmoopy

It seems my late 2009 Lexus IS250c unfortunately has a Type A unit. White screen display. Also unfortunately I didn't buy from Teyes! I bought from Ali Express and the seller has been very unhelpful. They confirmed that their head unit would fit and work on my model. I only sent the front photo. Since then they have been painfully unhelpful and reticent to reply. After looking a the Teyes fitting instructions I have gone ahead with fitting it and it is very similar to the Teyes screen. it is a 10" screen.

I have been following their very helpful harness fitting instructions and have got most of the connecting done. I have fixed the screen and amp to the frame but unfortunately the final connectors in my kit are the wrong shape and size so I can't connect the android screen to the amp. Unlike the Teyes photos, my version doesn't have a seperate Sat Nav. It is post HDD and needed a dealer map update at 300 quid plus. The Satnav must be included in the amp, I guess. I have connected it up as described by Teyes anyway. 

I hope the correct connectors will bring my screen and android unit to life. So far sound and radio from the DVD box but no screen activity of functions. Do you know where I can purchase the correct loom or adapters for this unit. 

Also i've read that as it's a IS250c  the amp won't fit in the head unit space and needs to be fitted elsewhere. Is that correct?

Thanks

Dave Borrie

Unfortunately they will have sent you a type B so it wont work, even in my normal IS the space is tight so you’ll likely have to  trim some the redundant back plastic that is used non navi models. Im planning on doing the same and running a new camera as I’ve upgraded my xtrons to a teyes and transplanted my xtrons to a slightly older IS.

The only consideration with the IS250C for you is running the camera cable as it is a nightmare compared to regular IS’s although fellow member Ahmed had some recent success.

Photos of my recent teyes install, still in progress and will need to trim the back.