2008 IS250 - New Owner

[IS250_IRL]

Afternoon folks, I'm new to the forum and new to Lexus. I just bought a 2008 IS250 Auto Executive (Think this is similar to SE in the UK) during the week and was hoping to get some input on a couple of questions/ observations I have.

Luckily the car seems to be running really well and I haven't noticed any major issues. The car had 2 long term owners from new has all receipts with full service history since 2008 so pretty sure its a good example. I have however noticed some of the following niggles:

1. alloys - I have seen this on multiple threads so I was aware of it, mine are not awful but its on my list to get them resprayed properly soonish.

2. Brakes - I don't hear the grinding of bald pads however they are slow to respond. I have the car booked in for a service on Monday so will be getting everything checked. Really hoping i don't have to replace anything yet. I have read about the calipers locking so will mention this to my mechanic.

3. Petrol Smell - I can sometimes get a smell of petrol when I get out of the car after a drive, its never in the cabin however. 

4. Fuel Consumption - I know its 2.5 V6 but it does seem to be fond of petrol. I actually found it surprisingly good on a motorway run but for semi-rural drives (usual trips of around 10km without too much stop/start) it can be heavy, I can nearly see the pin move. This isn't really a complaint as such, I wasn't expecting 40mpg to be fair. 

5. Auto Box - This is my first automatic car so still getting used to it and doubt I'll ever go back to manual. Just wondering one thing, when I take off at a reasonable pace, but not foot planted, the car will get to 5th and seems reluctant to move to 6th unless I ease off the pedal when it will straight away go to 6th. As I said this might be how it should be just wanted to check?

6. Autolock of doors - I know the doors lock automatically when you start driving however mind don't open when I turn the car off or even. I know in my old car when I opened the driver door, all the locks will open but this doesn't happen. Is this a fault or is it meant to happen? I know its only a small thing but can be annoying when you have passengers trying to get out quickly.

There are probably a few more things I'm forgetting but I will add them as they come to mind. Really glad to have found this forum, it was very informative when I was looking for a car.

Thanks in advance.

 

[scudney]

Hello James and welcome to the LOC,hoping you find it informative and educational,congratulations on your new purchase,hopefully someone will help in answering your questions shortly 👍

[markeyszoo]

If your is250 is like mine there are locking options.

1 it should unlock when put into park.

2 the passenger has a lock/unlock button on the armrest.

3 the passenger can unlock the button in the door handle

4 the auto operation can be programmed see pic from handbook

and yes it is a petrol gulper. Mine only does 24 around town

[IS250_IRL]

Cheers, didn't even think to check the user manual. i just assumed it was an error. I'll take a look at it this evening and hopefully get it working right. Thanks

[Mr Vlad]

Hi James and welcome to the best Lexus forum. I'm in my 1st week of owning a is250 and am glad I came across your post. Auto door locking. I didn't know that existed on this car. I'm definitely going to look at that. Fuel consumption on our cars i'd say is ruddy excellent. Its only a couple of mpg down on the 2.2 litre diesel i had prior. The smell of petrol is worrying. Go get it checked out at a reputable garage or even book it in at your nearest lexus dealer. Ive noticed that too regarding the auto box hanging on to 5th gear. Seems normal to me. Enjoy your motor coz i know I love mine.

[Texas]

There was a Safety recall on this car a few years ago regarding a fuel seal on the engine and if you are in the UK you can check this on the .gov website but if you are non-UK then I am not sure how you can check if this is still outstanding.

[IS250_IRL]

Cheers for that. I've tried updating the auto locking via the steps in the manual but it still hasn't worked. I'll add this to the list for my mechanic.

 

Regarding the fuel seal, I will check with Lexus on Monday to see it if was the same case here.

 

Dropping the car off to an indie specialist tomorrow so we will see how much needs doing, I'm hoping there wont be any suprises.

[F.A.]

The auto locking was not available on all years of the 2IS. I’m not sure when it was fitted. Our  2007 model didn’t have it but the feature could be enabled/ disabled by the method described in the manual on our 2011 model. So somewhere in between. 

[Bongo]

34 minutes ago, F.A. said:

The auto locking was not available on all years of the 2IS. I’m not sure when it was fitted. Our  2007 model didn’t have it but the feature could be enabled/ disabled by the method described in the manual on our 2011 model. So somewhere in between. 

My 2008 SE-L has the auto lock, pretty sure it can be set to lock over a certain speed or a specified amount of time. If this helps

[steve2006]

Hello James and welcome to the LOC.

Regarding the transmission they will not shift into top gear until the fluid has reached normal operating temperature to protect the transmission.

[zoricib]

FYI re the autolocking doors from the owners manual of a 2006 (55 reg) is250. Haven't tried to see if this works on mine though as the doors are always unlocked 

[F.A.]

24 minutes ago, zoricib said:

FYI re the autolocking doors from the owners manual of a 2006 (55 reg) is250. Haven't tried to see if this works on mine though as the doors are always unlocked 

I don’t think that’s for the same thing. Those instructions are for the Double Locking. That prevents people from breaking the window and unlocking the doors from the inside. The OP wants to know how to enable the Auto Locking, which locks the doors when the car passes a certain speed or when placed in to drive. 

[zoricib]

1 hour ago, F.A. said:

I don’t think that’s for the same thing. Those instructions are for the Double Locking. That prevents people from breaking the window and unlocking the doors from the inside. The OP wants to know how to enable the Auto Locking, which locks the doors when the car passes a certain speed or when placed in to drive. 

Ahh misread that

[IS250_IRL]

Just said I'd post an update after leaving the car with my mechanic for the week. The car needed a service and rear brake pads as I had expected, however there was also a crack in the radiator so i had to replace that. Minor service, rear pads and new radiator came to  just over 500 euro. Any ideas what might have lead to the crack? 

I just picked the car up this evening and dropped it straight to a detailer for some minor paint correction and a full interior and exterior clean. Should be all ready by tomorrow evening so can't wait to see how it looks. 

One thing I noticed after picking the car up, the window buttons for the passenger and rear windows on the driver side are not working anymore, I'll be letting the mechanic know on Monday but just wondering if he might have knocked something out of place for this to happen? I know he was also checking the rear parking sensors as two of them need replacing which is on my list for down the line.

After this I still need to:

1. Get 2 new rear tyres 

2. Get the alloys refurbished

3. replace those strut things in the boot lid before it takes my fingers off.

Just doing it bit by bit but the car will be spot on once I've got it all out of the way. Really wish I was mechanically minded so I could try tacklng some of this stuff myself to cut down on costs. Either way, I'm still very impressed with the car after 2 weeks of ownership and looking forward to putting some mileage on it.

Thanks to all for the input so far. I'll probably keep this thread updated as I go along as Iv'e found reading similar threads incredibly helpful.

[Bongo]

7 hours ago, IS250_IRL said:

Just said I'd post an update after leaving the car with my mechanic for the week. The car needed a service and rear brake pads as I had expected, however there was also a crack in the radiator so i had to replace that. Minor service, rear pads and new radiator came to  just over 500 euro. Any ideas what might have lead to the crack? 

I just picked the car up this evening and dropped it straight to a detailer for some minor paint correction and a full interior and exterior clean. Should be all ready by tomorrow evening so can't wait to see how it looks. 

One thing I noticed after picking the car up, the window buttons for the passenger and rear windows on the driver side are not working anymore, I'll be letting the mechanic know on Monday but just wondering if he might have knocked something out of place for this to happen? I know he was also checking the rear parking sensors as two of them need replacing which is on my list for down the line.

After this I still need to:

1. Get 2 new rear tyres 

2. Get the alloys refurbished

3. replace those strut things in the boot lid before it takes my fingers off.

Just doing it bit by bit but the car will be spot on once I've got it all out of the way. Really wish I was mechanically minded so I could try tacklng some of this stuff myself to cut down on costs. Either way, I'm still very impressed with the car after 2 weeks of ownership and looking forward to putting some mileage on it.

Thanks to all for the input so far. I'll probably keep this thread updated as I go along as Iv'e found reading similar threads incredibly helpful.

When the Battery is disconnected, you need to reset the windows, all you have to do is, go to each window, wind it down and hold the button for a few more seconds while the window is all the way down, need to do that for both the rears and the passenger side, should reset them for you. 

[markeyszoo]

Your windows can be stopped by toggle switch near adjust control. sure it is in the right way?

[steve2006]

Talking of wheels I picked a a full set of IS250C ones the other week, the owner changed them soon after he purchased the car new and finally decided to get rid of them as he was “fed up of them taking up room in the garage and falling over them”.

At the price I didn’t even haggle, gave him the £100.00 and got them in the boot soon as.

Not sure what to do yet, I have 2 nearly new Pirelli P Zeros 245/45/18 (100Y) for the 8.5” rears and need another pair for the fronts which I understand should be 225/45/18.

I was also considering putting a set of winter tyres on them but the car only does 1-2 K a year so probably not worth it.

[Mr Vlad]

You jammy begger lol. Well done 👍