Leaderboard

Due to aged parent in Yorkshire, I am commuting up and down M1 every week or so from Oxford Having been nearly wiped out by idiots a couple of times I wish to fit a dash cam. Can anyone tell me how to hardwire it to the rain sensor wiring so I don't have wires around the trim. On the subject of agism. I am a 73 year old ex military test pilot, I still fly and have a medical every 6 months. The MO (medical Officer) does a reaction test every time due to "perceived" age related reaction time slow down. He has yet to see any in my case. The current reaction times are still simlar to when I was full time test flying so lets drop this agism. People are living longer and healthier lives with very little signs of slowing down until in their 80's. SO lets keep agism off this forum.

I didn't use the rain sensor for mine, I just tucked the cables in behind the edge of the head cloth and down the L/H roof pillar to reach the fuse box in the PAX footwell. There was enough room for two cables, power and feed from the rear camera. The only place the cables were visible was an inch or two where they crossed from the pillar to the trim below the glovebox.

True. The manufacturers get their figures by removing almost everything from the car, such as passenger seats etc., and conduct their tests under laboratory conditions. I've always wondered how they are allowed to get away with this but obviously, they do. We bought our very first Lexus, a 2005 RX300, about four or five weeks ago and I'm horrified by the fuel consumption (a best so far of 28mpg on the motorway and a worst of 17mpg around town). I knew it would be bad because it's such a big, heavy car but I didn't think it would be this bad. I must admit though, that it's a long time since I had to rely on petrol alone. Our last car, a Nissan Maxima QX 3.0 V6 24V SE+ Auto, was converted to LPG within one month of us buying it back in 2008 and we went on to do more than 104,000 miles on LPG in it. It's for that reason that our RX300 is booked in for LPG conversion on 4th July and believe me, my wallet cannot wait!!

30mpg in town and about 35mpg on the motorway - all dependent on driving style and other factors of course.

Hi Thompson and welcome to the LOC, we are a friendly bunch and some of us even know how to pull them to bits and put them back together again, with of course the one bolt and washer left over. We always like to see pictures of members cars so don't be shy. As for your steering problem I echo what Steve and Piers have said and get it back as quiock as possible. Good luck with that. We recommend you spend a couple of mins looking over the rules of the LOC, we will be asking questions later. http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/terms-conditions/ Regards Mike

Hello and welcome to the LOC, you may be our first member from South Africa and you drive on the same side of the road as us in the UK I would have it rechecked immediately, the impact may have damaged suspension components or damage to the power steering system. Check the fluid level of the power steering reservoir, if empty you have a leak somewhere ( Some Lexus models have a cooler pipe running along the front crossmember which may have been fractured during the accident). Another thing to check are your tyre pressures.

The current specified is the maximum the socket is capable of delivering. A device will only draw what is meant to draw, if you plug a device that requires 1 A into a socket/charger that is capable of delivering 2 A then it the device will only received 1 A. One thing to remember is nearly all these sockets quote the total current across both outputs. So if you plug in two devices at once they may not charge as quickly as you hoped.

I may be missing something but from memory I've had the following issues outside of servicing, tyres, pads, discs etc: 98 GS300 - 2 years - no issues. 99 IS200 - 3 years - my wife's vehicle, no issues other than corroding alloys and two headlight bulbs. 01 GS430 - 3 years - purchased with 3 months left on factory warranty and initially needed new central locking motor, door lock mechanism and windscreen refitted due to wind noise. After the warranty expired I think I have an oxygen sensor go bad which I replaced myself and a normal sticking brake sliding pin which I fixed. 01 RX300 - 5 years - my wife's vehicle. A couple of oxygen sensors go bad which I replaced myself and a normal sticking brake sliding pins which I fixed. One sidelight bulb. 05 RX400h - 5 years - a couple of sticking brake sliding pins which I fixed. 12v battery got weak after 4 years so I replaced before it failed. Rear light cluster started to leak as rubber seal become detached - glued back on myself. Corroding alloys. 13 IS300h - 2 years - new power steering link assembly due to notchy steering feel, new drivers seat base due to movement during braking, new automatic wiper sensor, multiple firmware upgrades on infotainment system - all performed under factory warranty.

i used to have the dunlop sport maxx rt tyres as they where realy quiet good wet braking & fuel economy i now have the cross climates only because i got 4 cc tyres and 2 years of 4 way wheel alignment for less than £290 they are quiet but not as quiet as the dunlop sport maxx rt's,both are good tyres. your decision will be down to personal preference

with a lexus dealer selling the car then its not an insurance write off if its only been driven through standing water and not been flooded by water surely whats the difference between having the car underside pressure washed and the momentary contact of water from driving through deepish water. if its a keen price and your lexus dealer is prepared to put in writing the warranty you have and the duration its valid for then maybe go for it, its all down to how you feel.

I believe the Lexus oem ones are around £50 each so not cheap. i did by dome replacement trims from eBay but they look more of a Matt aluminium finish. Some might like this but I preferred the original trims. as a consequence I never even took them out the plastic packaging do they are in the garage.

Well, considering it was leaking and it was done at a dealer, you could argue that the warranty only cost him £375 so far, which is worth spending for peace of mind. So glad I bought mine when I did. 2 months after I got it, my car needed a new flywheel and, as it turns out, engine mounts. Along with a new clutch this cost me £650. Without the warranty, I was looking in the region of £3000. Granted, I could have had the work done somewhere else, but there are benefits to having work done at the dealer e.g. courtesy car. Also, my dealer was brilliant when it came to fixing the issues, which were more complicated than first anticipated. So, I had 22 months left after getting my moneys worth for the £795 for the cost of the warranty. Another thing is sometimes it is nice to get some niggling faults taken care of which you otherwise wouldn't bother with. My car is going in next week for a service, and I have asked them to look at a couple of niggles which I would otherwise have just put up with. I don't think I would own a newer Lexus without a warranty since they are so expensive to repair.

Many thanks for the replies so far. I specifically wanted a car that already had the 60k/6yr £800+ service, which this car has. I still have a hard time getting over Lexus' service costs to be honest, am I over simplistic to think that Lexus just use Toyota parts? I also specifically looked for an SE-I trim car, because I didnt want to have the air suspension and not too overly bothered about the LED headlamps, but the Mark Levinson would have been welcomed ;) Its good to hear about the 12v battery NO LONGER being a problem for the RX450h, but I will be probing that a little bit more on my test drive. I am likely to go for a 24 months extended warranty for £995 along with a service plan which will give me 3 years of trouble free motoring, which i think is not unreasonable. Incidentally they are giving 24 months for the price of 12 right now. The dealership and the salesman have gone beyond what I call a great service already, as the salesman in question is going to come into work just for my test drive on his day off tomorrow because all the slots are booked for his colleagues! Not to mention the personalised video, which is always a nice touch. Its great to hear from you guys about your experience, its reassuring to say the least. Its a lot of money for a car this age, but then it is a lot of car and a Lexus!

You could purchase a legal copy of the software then you would get proper support? We don't allow the discussion of unlicensed, pirate copies of Toyota software on these forums.

I have now removed the stiff pin and given it a good clean up, a light coat of grease and it now moves freely. I initially tried to remove the rubber boot where it was attached to the cylinder but it was reluctant to part company so I left it in place there. Instead I released it at the pin end where it was just pushed over a lip on the pin and it came away here quite easily. I squirted some Plus Gas dismantling fluid down the pin to help release it and get it moving. Working the pin backwards and forwards with a spanner on the nut using one hand and a screwdriver in the other hand pushing the edge of the nut on the pin, I managed to ease the pin out. I cleaned up the inside of the cylinder using a flat blade screwdriver to scrape the debris out that was in there - several scrapes with a dab of grease of the tip of the screwdriver removed most if not all of it. I have done the other car as well, which was much the same. Three pins moved freely but one was seized. This is now moving freely. It was the pin with a groove in it (bottom pin) but there was no O ring on the pin or left in the cylinder. I tried an ordinary O ring on the pin but it this made it too thick to get the pin back in the cylinder, so I left it as it was. There were no shims fitted to the pads on this car either, so I will try to source some used ones or new aftermarket ones if there are any. Thanks to all of you for your help and comments.

Thanks Chris. Yes, as far as I know mine is the most modified IS-F in Europe. The Defi triple gauges in place of the central air vents is unique to me I believe (not even the US or Japan have done this the way I did). It certainly is nice to do something completely unique. Whilst everyone is entitled to their opinions on whether I did the right thing by changing this or that, it really isn't about them. As long as I am happy with how MY car looks, drives, feels, that's all that matters. It is pretty cool though that an independent judge I had never met saw my car for what it is, and decided to give me the award. He had a Porsche Turbo (think it's in a couple of the photos) which for obvious reasons wasn't being judged, but the look, and rarity of my car pulled him in closer. When I ran through the extensive list of subtle and not so subtle changes, he could appreciate how much of a labour of love this car has been. Will be even more interesting after I add the RR-Racing performance package, and one day the RR-Racing supercharger kit. Just love the fact I do something no one else has done. Does have it's challenges though! Take fitting PPE headers! No tuner or shop here that has done these before (or often enough to do the complete job in 5-6hrs anyway), so it could in theory cost me more in labour than the headers cost! Worth it though given they still represent the single largest gain you can do to the F (until the supercharger is released, but that benefits from having the better headers as well).

Hi guys, Over what was 2 days we (niece and I) fitted a new timing belt, water pump and various pulley wheels, armed with a youtube video on my phone a load of tools (not enough) and bags of can do attitude we started on bank holiday weekend just gone. Now in hindsight maybe just maybe saturday on a bank holiday weekend might of not been the best idea. We started taking everything off and were happy enough putting everything into neat little piles, until we hit the main pulley wheel I had thought about buying an air wrench but then I would need a compressor and would need to drive it all up to my mother in laws to do the job (not so nice a job if done roadside in london I thought) so an electric wrench was on the cards. I did a bit of research and the clarkee one looked good so I bought it, bah i'm rambling. The problem was the body off the wrench is was and always will be too long to fit between the bolt and the aircon rad thingy so I took the radiator off (don't worry there was no gas in there as if it's a ls430 and what kind of self respecting 430 has gas in the aircon and lovely vent holes in the pipes ever so conveniently placed behind the fuel tank) gained a few inches but a few was not enough as there is a metal strut running right slap bang in the middle right at the spot I needed. (small amount of subdued running around screaming happened). I then started to look about in my in-laws garage and garden so something to use for the bump start method (all the shops being closed, this may have been the moment I used the hindsight thing. very useful that). Luckily I found some scrap garden chair they were not really using at the time, ok my wife may have been sat on it but there was others but I cut that up and used it with my breaker bar eyes closed I turned the key and as if by magic the bolt was loose. (Insert small amount of victory dancing) Everything kinda went ok until we needed to tighten up that very same bolt (the compressor was looking like a mighty good buy now). It was late so i left it alone I had to work out some way of holding the pulley still (no i didn't buy the tool and yes i'm an idiot). Next day I am dragged to a car boot sale where I found a tile breaker for 50 whole penny's which I drilled apart then combined with a stick and 3 bolts to make something to hold the pulley still. It only bloody worked didn't it. Everything else got put back together and is working like a dream (insert much larger victory dance). To be honest without this forum I don't think I would have tried it, and ok it was very trying in places but only because I didn't have all the tools I needed so thank you everyone for this forum and all your posts.

Generally it depends on the colour of the car. I dont like black wheels either - too ghetto for my liking but love Gunmetal wheels! Especially on white I think Gunmetal wheels look great but I dont think they would have looked that good on a colour like Pearlite Grey on our now sold Merc Or I guess you could always go for Gold if you're brave enough :P