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Hi Folks,

My power steering pump has been on its way out for several months now (heavy, squealing steering). The pully can be observed stalling when force is applied to the steering wheel. I've ruled out a slack belt.

So, I have just bought a second hand pump from the local salvage yard (it's been tested and works fine). It cost £30... Bargain.

I've scoured the forum but can't find any details on how easy it is to change the pump. Does anyone have a link to some details? Or, even better, if someone has done this before do you have instructions or pictures?

It's a bit of a long shot, but any advice would be much appreciated. My back up is to ask the garage to do it when they MOT the car at the end of the month.

Thank you,

Try HERE, hopefully will tell you what you need to know

Just a quick note to let everyone know that the cheapest price I got was at JEM in Colindale.

£497 (inc. VAT and labour) for cam belt replacement, intermediate service, air-con service and new battery. They also collect the car and bring it back for free.

Thanks for all your help. Saved me £500!

That's a good price, glad we could help. If you mention you are a LOC member you should get 10% knocked off the price too :winky:

Thanks for these tips. Much appreciated.

The car has only done 52,000 miles, so I'm not sure whether we actually need to get the cam belt replaced this time round. Obviously, the Lexus garage is advising that we do (ker-ching!). Do you think we could leave the cam belt service for another year and just get a normal service for now. Car is 6 years old.

If the cambelt is due a change after 6 years which its is on the IS 200,I would have it done irregardless of milage,had mine done at 55000mls,the last thing you want is a snapped cambelt better to be safe than sorry.

Totally agree with scudney, mine had only done 50k but it was 6 years old so had the belt changed. The original Lexus spec was 6 yrs/100k miles, whichever occurred first, but was changed to 6yrs/60k a few years ago. Better to be safe than sorry.

I have taken my car to JEM for the past two services, one of which was the 60k service.

They are in NW London (Colindale) and I cannot fault their workmanship. The major 60k service including cambelt, tensioner and idler replacement came to around £900 but this also included a few extras such as an MOT, brake fluid replacement and aircon service. I supplied both engine oil and spark plugs, which are available on eBay.

They are not the cheapest around but they do fit genuine Lexus parts which for me is reassuring and as I say I would recommend them.

having your windscreen changed, IS the cause of your problem, the screen has not been installed correctly, and water is getting in at the bottom and running down into the drivers side fuse and relay box causing a short in the relay

I had my windscreen changed last year and recently suffered the same problem however am not convinced in my case it was due to the windscreen. I did indeed find some damp in one of the sockets in the fuse board and after drying out it seems to have cured the problem. I then removed the scuttle tray and directed water all around the windscreen so it ended up in the space below the wiper motor. This tested the bulkhead drain holes which were ok and I then checked for any water at the bulkhead wiring grommet above the accelerator pedal and around the fuse box wiring - found none. The windscreen glass protrudes about an inch below the sealant level and as water doesn't tend to travel uphill it can't get in that way.

As the scuttle tray has holes in it water can easily enter there but should simply go out through the drain holes, worth checking they are not blocked. This was two weeks ago and since then we have had heavy rain and the problem hasn't reacurred. So how did the water get into the socket - I'm thinking possibly from damp and condensation rising from the drivers footwell - can't see any other way.

Also, a few people have reported this same problem and have never had their windscreen replaced.

I also mentioned that my tyres always wear on the inside and they said this is normal as many cars now have been set up to provide better cornering which results in inner tyre wear.

Can't help you with tyre choice but the above statement is incorrect.

Many IS200/300 owners have had the same problem as you, the calibration figures used by Lexus for setting up the steering geometry are basically wrong. The correct settings are available from WIM. It's a long way from Plymouth but WIM do have authorised centres so there might be one near you. Had mine done at WIM a couple of years ago and since then the front tyres are wearing at the same rate across the tread.

I dunno if this is related, but I installed HID's month ago and there is some strange thing. when I go into turn with turn signal on, when I straighten the steering wheel and turn signal stalk turns off, headligts blink. they are off very very short moment, but with hids it is very noticeable.

happened some 5 times and only with turn signals turning off. over bumps, potholes, railway crossings they have never blinked, so bad connection is quite impossible.

myb it is the stalk itself?

Seems a strange one, never fitted HID's, is there any wiring you have done that might have caused this? Perhaps try refitting the original bulbs if you can and see if it still does it?

Back to my problem, I have been checking around the fusebox in the drivers footwell and found a very small amount of water in one of the connectors (a grey one). Cleaned it out as best I could and so far so good, but won't hold my breath.

Couldn't find any evidence of water coming in through the bulkhead grommet, all wiring seemed dry - had a friend pour water over that side of the windscreen but couldn't see anything coming through.

Hate these kinda faults, difficult to trust the car now, never thought I'd say that about my Lexus

Just been informed by a neighbour that my headlights were on. Seems same problem as others have had or are having.

Have checked drivers footwell fuse board and cannot find any evidence of water but did have my windscreen replaced last June :( Will try and check the connectors but they are recessed into the plastic kick guard (or whatever it's called!). Is it necessary to remove it before gaining access to the fuse board and connectors?

I have removed the headlamp fuses to stop the Battery going flat. The blue headlamp relay in the box next to the car Battery was making a noise but I am having trouble trying to remove it. Does it just pull out or is it held in by a clip, pulled quite hard and it seemed to be moving upwards a bit but reluctant to pull too hard as I don't want to do any damage.

Thanks

I've no idea who makes them... but I'm wondering if they're shaped a certain way or are just a particular compound of rubber. I'll ask next week and post the answer :-)

Cheers mate

Recently signed up for the Esential Service plan and have cashed in my free Inspection voucher - has anyone ever had one done and know what it involves?

I know they do a 29 point visual check, I just wondered what sort of stuff they looked at... does it include the belts?

They're giving her a free wash / vac as well so that's a weekend job for me ticked off the list already! :D

The results of the inspection weren't too bad; apart from a nasty little shocker - the front two wheels are slightly buckled on the inner edge. Annoyed, as it can only be parking up on kerbs which I haven't done. There's no noticeable effects on the handling so that's going to the bottom of the to-do-list (£380 fitted for two 18" refurbs from Lexus).

Cam-belt and interim 'essential' service is being done next week at Lexus Bristol (£360 for the lot - not bad!). Anyone know what the differences between the standard and essential interim services are?

Oh yeah, and they said I didn't have Lexus blades on my wipers which is why they were tracking slightly (£30). Never heard of needing a specific manufacturer of blades before!

The parting-with-cash continues... :)

Now that's interesting because I have fitted two different makes (and types) of non Lexus blades over the past few years and have suffered from wiper judder on both sides. I had a chipped windscreen replaced in May and am still having the same problem.

I may well have to get the OEM ones fitted, hoping they might sort the problem. Out of interest does anyone know who makes the original Lexus blades?

IS200/300 forum is probably not the best forum to post your question on - I'd try the Rx300 one instead :winky:

I went to the firm that were doing refurbs of the warranty exchanges for Lexus on an exchange basis.

Not sure if they still do but suspect they might. Firm was called 'Pristine' and they were near Milton Keynes.

Went there on my way to the JAE show one year and they swapped them out there and then.

Cost about £250 for 4 exchange wheels + moving the tyres across etc.

That was about 6 years ago but just looked at their website and seems now do that through a network of agents.

Might be worth a look http://www.pristinealloywheels.co.uk/exchange-programme.html

You tell them which wheels you have and they send a refurbed set to an agent who then swaps them over for you.

Best of luck

TG

That's a neat solution. Did they do this for Lexus nationwide? I ask because mine were exchanged during warranty and are now in a worse condition than they were back then!

Most decent wheel refurbers will be able to do all four wheels within a couple of hours so you wouldn't need to worry about it, just see if any of them work saturdays and leave your car with them for a couple of hours, simples. You should be looking at around £40 per wheel unless you get mates rates (like I do :winky: but my mate is in Glasgow so no use to you I'm afraid).

Think you'd be lucky to get a turnaround in a couple of hours tbh, especially if the wheels are in as bad a condition as Rob says they are. The ones I've looked at need the wheels for a day at least, if not longer. Some do offer a hire car if necessary. Also I tend to think the quicker the job is done the more likely it is to be bodged - just my opinion.

There is always the option of the mobile refurbishers but I've not heard that many good comments about them, seem ok for minor blemishes but that's about it. I've just booked mine in to have them refurbed at £40 a wheel but with a three day turnaround time.

EDIT: I have just phoned Lexus who confirm my IS200 first registered in Sept 2003 is not affected so the VIN checker was correct in my case :P

... and they used the same site to check ;)

That's possible I suppose. Interestingly on the IS250 forum some have entered their VIN and are apparently subject to a recall for the same fault - thought it was only the 1st gen IS 200/300 with the problem but it seems not

Anyone tried calling the Lexus Contact Centre on the quoted 0845 number to see if they give the same result as the VIN checker?

Does seem odd though that not one poster has yet had a recall confirmed on the checker

EDIT: I have just phoned Lexus who confirm my IS200 first registered in Sept 2003 is not affected so the VIN checker was correct in my case :P

I use Genuine Lexus stuff

Didn't know there was such a thing as genuine Lexus oil

My local Lexus dealer uses Shell Helix Ultra 5w/40 oil and car seems happy with it

Mine is a November 2004.

Even though we haven't had any problems yet should we still take the car to the dealer or just wait and see if it is ok?

If you're worried you can enter your VIN number HERE and it will tell you if your vehicle is affected.

Check front fogs are working - they can corrode and new ones are around £140 each

Also check for front inner tyre wear, a known problem. Can easily be corrected by a trip to see Tony @ WIM

hi,what seems to baffle me is that quite a few people dont seem to take changing cambelts seriously when due seriously - manual says 6yrs or a 100000 which ever comes first, so if the car is 6yrs old and has done 20,000 or is 3yrs old and done 100,000 it needs changing either way.Please put thinking caps on it saves money and grief in the long run.

Ignore the manual, Lexus now recommend changing the cambelt at 60,000 miles or 6 yrs, whichever comes first.

Sorry to hear of your overheating problem.

You might find this useful.. it links to the IS200 workshop manual, it might be of help

On a related note, I'm taking the IS200 in for a cam belt change on Wednesday (as well as the wheel alignment) - total cost for cam belt change is £248 all in! Given what I've read on the forum this sounds like a pretty good deal. For those who are interested it's Total Motor Care in Sandwich, KENT.

£248 sounds good for a cambelt change - does it include replacement of both the idler pulley and tensioner?

If financies allow it's also worth getting the water pump replaced at the same time if it hasn't been already, pump is around £100 to buy - could well save you some money in the future.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260156652777&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en

and do they represent decent value? I read somewhere way back of someone spending double this on new plugs. If I'm getting my cam belt done I may as well get the mechanic to fit these at the same time if they're suitable.

I would def recommend these plugs. I bought them from this seller over a year ago and have had no problems at all.

I have had my IS200 for 6 years and have done around 50k miles. I haven't yet had to add any oil between services. 1 ltr of oil per 1000 miles may well be within spec but it surely indicates a higher rate of wear than expected. I'd give it a wide berth personally.

i read on the lexus offical website that the irid plugs only need a change at 100k..!!! so they must be good denzo plugs are fitted by lexus at the factory i think.....

I'm surprised at that. The plugs may well last 100k miles but iirc the IS200 maintenance schedule recommends replacement at 60k or 6 years.

Hi all, have just read that Toyota are increasing their warranty to 5 yrs/100,000 miles.

Anyone know if Lexus will be doing likewise?