steve2006

Found this on the web.

I read today that oven cleaner, the white foamy spray on stuff is very good for cleaning EGR valves, just make sure it is well rinsed before refitting it.

Yep, diff oil.

17801-31170 is the air filter, other part number not recognised but probably differential oil.

As above, remove fluid with a turkey Bastor and then refill to correct level according to the dipstick level markings on the reservoir cap.

Pretty obvious but is the spark plug good? Other possibilities are the connecting plug or wiring to the plug and loss of trigger pulses from the ECU. Did you reset the ECU to remove the stored codes after changing the pack?

Have a read through this post, looks very similar to what you have.

TBH I don't know, all the other Lexus models you could drive, CT200h, IS250 and GS300 were free to take out solo but the ISF and LS600h were not, perhaps the £101,000 price tag of the LS made it an insurance requirement. The test drive ISF is not recognised on the DVLA MOT check system so may have had a change of plates?

Does anyone own this particular ISF which was used a few years ago by Lexus for their Open Road Day promotions? I waited nearly all day to have a test drive in this car which along with the LS600h was only permitted with a qualified race driver sat with you. The professional driver first took control and drove it like a race car along the local public roads then it was my turn at a much reduced pace. How many times it was driven by potential customers I don't know but it certainly had a hard early life during the tour.

Hello Shirish and welcome to the LOC. I would take a look at both of them,give them a test drive and then compare the two. Unusually both seem to have refurbished alloy wheels as they tend to corrode badly but check the tyres on both cars for make and quality and whether they are the same type on each axle. If you have another daily car you should also be able to insure the Lexus on a classic policy with limited mileage with agreed value for less than standard insurance rates. All parts for the later LS400 are still available, the exhaust is stainless steel apart from the front Y section which can leak so have a listen for blowing in this area, also make sure the auto headlight levelling works as the rear connecting rod tends to break but cheap to make a replacement. Also check the steering column moves correctly both in and out and up and down as the control motors fail and are expensive to replace. Press every button,move the seats to ensure all the functions operate,try the CD player, check the aerial goes up and down when the ignition is turned on and off,check under the boot carpet for water and check the AC blows cold.

Sorry I'm also too lazy to look for you :)

A flat battery can cause this, the lights may extinguish when the car has been driven for a while or try resetting the codes.

Try this place for your gas struts, well recommended by LOC members. http://www.sgs-engineering.com/car-boot-tailgate/lexus

Timing belt needs doing for sure preferably with the tensioner,idler and water pump at the same time.

Just for information the rear light cluster retails for around £280.00 so make full use of that reversing camera and sensors!

Hello Mujahid and welcome to the LOC. Looking at the report,taking into account your student spending powers and dependent on your own car DIY expertise I would concentrate on the steering and braking problems first as these are safety critical. Replace the lower ball joint which includes the track rod end ball joint in one unit ( around £80.00 for the part from Lexus). The play in the steering column, check all the pinch bolts for tightness and correct torque, there was a known issue with the type of bolts fitted on some models but not sure if this affected the IS models. Check the caliper slide pins on the rear brakes as they have a tendency to seize and cause uneven pad and disc wear, if they are still removeable regrease them, if totally stuck solid worst case senario is new caliper. Coolant level keep an eye on it, same with oil level, if the oil is just seeping put up with it for now. Mirror, if you can see through it OK leave for now. AC condenser again leave for now. There is nothing special about working on these cars, if you have friends or family in the trade ask them before paying a garage to do the work.

I couldn't imagine that the tasteful modifications were done whilst it was still owned by the garage owner's wife so has the present owner done them and why? What else has been done that you can't see, perhaps a welded diff for drifting? Had it been totally original perhaps worth considering but £3K plus the cost of a secondhand OEM exhaust system with a still good non blowing Y pipe and a set of refurbished OEM alloys the cost mounts up along with all the servicing requirements of a vehicle stood for years probably exposed to the elements.

No sorry, didn't put it in watch list.

You have several choices, the most expensive is a new mirror from Lexus at around £230.00.... maybe not! Sods law there is a genuine used one on eBay for the passenger side for £35.00. Personally I would fit one of those cheap stick on versions over the existing one for now, OK they look naff and won't be fully functional re heated but it will do the job and make you road legal until a genuine one pops up at a reasonable price (there's some silly money being asked these days by some sellers). Bear in mind that there are 2 different types of complete mirrors if you chose to replace the whole thing and not just the glass.

Sorry if I've repeated anything Phil and Q, in the time it took me to reply you have both posted as well.

Hello Jonny and welcome to the LOC. With the new battery discharging so quickly overnight it sounds like a heavy current draw from somewhere, even leaving an interior light on all night is unlikely to completely flatten the battery. The best way to determine parasitic current draw is by using a clamp type ammeter on the main battery lead, from what I remember this should be around 18 - 25mA You can also use a conventional digital multimeter set to measure current but be aware these generally only measure a maximum of 10 Amps, there are plenty of tutorials for the safe procedure on YouTube. If your parasitic current draw is well in excess of the normal figure then begin diagnosis by removing individual fuses and rechecking the current draw each time, if it drops to the normal level when a particular fuse is pulled then the circuit the fuse supplies is the one to investigate further. If removing non of the fuses makes any difference then the alternator could be suspect with a faulty regulator or diode pack or you may have a damaged cable going to earth although the latter is usually obvious by the smoke it produces! Although unlikely check your boot light is going off when it is closed, at one time this meant someone being shut in there but simply place your camera phone in there on video record mode and then check the playback. Just out of curiosity were you aware of this problem when you bought the car?

There was one on ebay a week ago.

Providing you can still crank the engine over on the starter motor you could use an impact socket on the crank pulley retaining nut and a long breaker bar wedged onto the ground and then crank the engine briefly to "crack" the nut.

If you have done the job before you should have no problem on this one, conventional 4 pot caliper with the usual selection of anti rattle springs/plates (usually stainless steel) and pad retaining pins so no seized up slide pins to contend with. Two caliper mounting bolts usually to remove caliper, usual countersunk disc fitting screws. Make sure the hub mounting face is totally clean before fitting new discs and loosen off the caliper bleed valve when pushing the pistons back.

Part number for both GS300 and GS450h is 15678-46020 priced around £5.00 each, just one needed for GS300 being a straight 6 engine (located on passenger side head) and 2 for the GS450h with one on each bank.