Gaztech

Hey this is a great idea. You don't by any chance have the measurements to make this do you? I would need bolt size, distance apart and length of bar you used. Looks simple to fabricate. Did it work ok for you? Thanks for replying.

Sounds unscientific but probably a good idea!

Hi everyone, I'm about to embark on another attempt at replacing my timing belt on my IS200. I tried it once but couldn't get the pulley off as I couldn't hold it whilst I undid the bolt. I put everything back as the belt wasn't too bad but.... I keep thinking that although the belt looks ok it's about time it was replaced. The car has done about 100k miles now so it ought to be done! However... I need to beg/borrow/steal/hire a pulley holding tool so that I can undo the pulley bolt. According to Lexus the part number of this one is 09213-54015-01. Does anyone have one I can borrow or hire? I can get one from OTC but they want $234.00 for it - and I'm only going to use it once! If I'm going to do that I may as well pay a garage to change the belt. Ideas anyone? Thanks for your help (in anticipation).

This is more like it! Looks like a very good idea. Very practical. I'll definitely give this a go! Much appreciated. Thank you.

The problem seems to be that not only is it VERY tight but it's impossible to stop the engine turning completely. I found that there was far too much "flex" in the holding method. Car was in gear but still not solid enough to undo the bolt. The problem is that if you can't get the engine locked off any whack with a hammer is just absorbed in the flex of the holding method. Tricky one this.... Maybe mine is just mega-tight.

Mine was the same, I eventually managed it with the hammer and a friend holding the timing belt on the cam pulley with a set of big water pump pliers but my next course of action was to put the breaker bar against the subframe or the floor and just flick the starter over. Old trick I used to use on my old bmw. Have to literally just juickly turn the starter on and off again though! Hey - neat trick. Might just be possible. I think I'll have another go in a couple of weeks time. This time I won't strip everything down until I manage to loosen the bolt! Thanks.

Hi Everyone. So, I settled down last Saturday to change the timing belt on my IS200 using Kev Watkins brilliant instructions on the forum. (Nice one Kev!) Stripped everything down - all went fine until I came to removing the main pulley bolt. No amount of hammering or jumping on my "shifter" bar would make the bolt budge. There just seemed to be too much take up in the crude method I was using to hold the pulley. Wow - was this bolt tight!! Serious! After 2 hours of cursing, swearing and generally getting more and more frustrated I was forced to concede defeat and give up. I never give up - so it must have been REALLY stuck. As you can imagine, I'm not happy about this. What are the chances of anyone on the forum having the tool to hold the pulley properly to remove this bolt? Has anyone fashioned a tool that I could hire/borrow/beg? This is a serious dent to my pride - beaten by a single bolt! Anyone have any ideas? I REALLY don't want to send this to Toyota to do as changing the belt is essentially a very straightforward task and they charge a fortune to do this. Please HELP!!

Thanks guys! That'll do for me. I can now get on with the job :D

Hi Everyone, Just going to change the spark plugs on my IS200 as car is hard to start in the mornings. Looks easy enough but I can't find information on what the plug gap is anywhere! I have an IS300 manual and this states 1.2mm (0.043"). anyone know if this is also correct for the IS200? Why do Lexus/Toyota make it so damn impossible to find information anywhere? !! This is a really simple job - you would have thought it would be easy to find this. Some users here seem to think that the gap is set "out of the box" but that's not my experience with other cars and plugs - you have to set it to the recommended gap. Anyone know? Would be nice to do it this weekend if I get the info! :D Thanks in advance.

Hi Guys, First post here... Just got an Is200 SE - love it BUT I find that throttle response is poor until I get the engine spinning over 3500rpm. Does anyone know if there's a way to re-map the ECU to get more low-end torque without having to resort to full-blown modifications? I'm not after mega performance - just some grunt from the engine at low revs as it seems rather "flat". Any ideas?