Steviewevie

Fair enough if you like that, don't get me wrong, it's great that we all like different things. But that's still completely different from a manual, and it wouldn't be for me.

So was it all fine before you fitted the stubby aerial ? And then when you fitted that did the radio reception go bad immediately, or only after a while ? I wonder if the wiring got damaged when you replaced the aerial, given that the problem still happened with the old aerial put back on.

If you had just had number 1 as your symptom, I would have said wheel balancing. But with 2 and 3 it sounds like a sticky caliper to me, and I would have that checked first if I was you. Do you notice more brake dust on one wheel ? Can you tell if the scraping is from the front or rear ? Try feeling (but carefully !) to see if one caliper is hot after driving.

I haven't actually used Powerline networking myself, I have to admit. But that would be my first choice rather than wireless if I needed it. I have helped out several friends with wireless and seen lots of problems there (very poor range, interference, unreliable routers etc). Yes, you can pretty much just plug more in if you want to add more devices to the network. I don't know what the maximum is, but I don't think it's likely you'll hit it. I don't know too much about Solwise, but they seem to be doing pretty well in the Powerline networking market. If you feel happier about going for another brand, I'm sure they'd be fine too.

I would definitely go for the Powerline networking if I was you. Hugely more reliable than wireless. These ones are supposed to be very good.

OEM belt is only about £30. Don't see the point of paying 3x that for an HKS one !

VCAR register means it's been written off and repaired. It hasn't had the inspection of the quality of the repairs to take it off the VCAR register yet. So you'd have to be very careful about that one.

Low pads is quite likely. The pads will be more noisy when they get very low, check them ASAP.

Well a compression test will be easy to do and will be a good indication if there's damage, although not necessarily where the damage is (e.g. piston/rings/valves). As the link that I posted points out, there are quite a few different things that can cause a misfire, e.g. damaged injector is another possible cause.

The fact that it's auto-only (over here, anyway) makes the IS300 a non-starter for me too.

11-spoke wheels might have been standard on the LE, but weren't they still an option for other later models too ?

It is a member here who is selling it, think he could do with some good news at the moment ! :winky: Edit - check this thread.

For the IS200, there's a guide on how to use the sight glass under the bonnet to do a visual check of how the a/c is functioning, here.

Don't worry Col, I think we all love Lexes here. I really love my IS200 too. The prices at the moment for them are ridiculous, you get an awful lot of car for your money ! :D

Fujitsu is a large electronics manufacturer, computers is just one part of their business. It's Fujitsu Ten who made the unit.

Neither. On the underside it says it's made by Fujitsu.

whats that mate? Chris had just made up and fitted a stainless battery cover plate. I think he's deleted the posting with the photos in though, it was in another thread.

I really really hope I'm wrong. But I've got a nasty feeling that the extra load from the charger might have tipped things over the edge with those wrong plugs in there. The oil on the plug is kinda worrying, as Rob says.

Yeah, it seems that often someone breaking a car will just list one random part off it (e.g. seatbelts) but say they're breaking the car. So you can contact them and ask for a price for whatever you're after. You should be in a good position regarding rear speakers, becuase I don't think they changed through the life of the car (but you need an SE or Sport model, not an S) and also they're highly unlikely to have been damaged in an accident so should be still in one piece (assuming they were working properly before and not blown).

We want more pics ! :D

If you want to investigate it yourself, the online workshop manual has all the diagrams and stuff that you need to take it apart.

There's a guide on how to perform a compression test here.

Great news Stav, congratulations ! :D

A Fiesta with its relatively low fuel consumption and insurance etc (and road tax) is a much more attractive proposition to many than an IS200. I paid £4,800 for my Lex nearly a year ago, V plate with 48K miles, and I'm sure the prices have gone down a fair bit since then. Edit - Col, I think you mean webuyanycar.com

Oh my God that's awful Chris, really sorry to hear about that. At least you were somewhere you could put the fire out though, imagine if it had happened when you were driving along in the middle of nowhere ? As others have said hopefully the damage looks worse than it really is. Seems like a real cruel twist of fate for the damage to be right in the place you've done so much hard work, under the bonnet.