is200 Newbie

Happenned to me tonight - car opened fine in work before coming home. Got home, parked beside a street lamp on our road (not usual spot) and car doors would not lock - tried for a few mins walking around the car trying to lock it. It eventually did but only single locked itself. Tried to unlock it and it wouldn't - either by pressing the open button on fob or by touching door handle. Red light flashes on fob when pressed. Took battery out / cleaned. Tried again and took a further few mins to get it to open. Started car no problem and moved it into my drive. Now opens / double locks no problem every time.. I will get a spare battery but can lamp posts cause enough interference to disrupt the fob signal? I will try it again tomorrow to see if I can replicate it....

As per Johns post above ... old school thoughts ...., weight in the boot just like your dad told you. Bag of sand as the weight helps with grip and if stuck can help you get moving again. A full tank of fuel can also help (weight) Make sure tyres are at correct pressures and of course the snow mode on.

That will be a big wodge of cash - on the bright side no one was injured

Check its MOT history on the GOV web site Looking at it, then it has had a hard life with brakes / tyres and one instance of a failure on one disc pad? Seems to suggest its not been looked after if failing on pads etc...

I know what you mean ... mines screaming and rattling ... May come off in the future .... may not !

It may explain to a lesser extent, the amount of plastic covers on the 250 (and others) used in the engine bay especially the main one covering the top of the engine? Looks tidy but has another function

Well said Michael

You need to keep all of the evidence - DO NOT give the only copy of anything you have such as the AA report or pictures to the dealer. Give them copies if requested to and keep a record of whats done as a repair. This amounts to a major failure and could result in a "danger to life" situation - any risk assessor will tell you that the implications of this could / should lead to a recall - at the very minimum a check on the cars made within the same spec or vin (whatever they use as a traceable batch) Like you said above - due to the seriousness of the fault and the fact that it could have so easily resulted in an accident or even death, the fact that if it was in an accident situation you would be hard pressed to prove the cause as that's what the bonnet is designed to do in hitting something - if the cars new then this has got to be a recall - one fault in however many they have sold would in normal instances not warrant a recall but due to the seriousness of this then it should not be a repair they undertake to fix the problem and let you drive off on your way with no record of this but a technical report made on the fault and recorded for reference to be made against other models made along side yours. I would like to think this is their process and view also..? Were you aware that the car had this feature - I am guessing its described in the manual for the car? - it should be. If not then I would be very surprised if they are probably in breach of safety regulations in not informing you of the danger of this feature. The warning does not have to be "in your face" but it should show in the manual as it is assumed you, as an owner, will read it.

How lucky was that !!

114k - that's good going

DO - buy a 250 DONT - buy a 220 There are loads of posts here showing the benefits of the 250 over the 220. Have a good read before buying

Been through this one - might be worth you checking the centre resonator also as chances are it will also be on its way out behind the box at the joint (between box and cats). A new stainless cat back will cost you around £400 but issues with noise - some people have bought these with no noise so its a mixed bag but worth shopping around for the quietest one. Some welds on mine are shot also after 2 years use. For me, mine is quiet until around 2k revs where it creates a hell of a drone noise within the cabin. Novelty at first but cant live with it now. Mine is a free flow. I am making my own at the moment and just need a few hangars to start to put it together ....oh and of course some dry weather which will be no time soon ! Cost for parts so far is £68 but will expect it to finally be around £90. Will post how I done this once I am ready to do so - doesn't help you out now though. There is a set of back boxes on ebay at the moment OEM used ones for (I think) £250 which is cheap compared to £800 new but you do take the risk of them rotting quicker compared to new as they are used. You will not only be hiring your bum out if you buy a new one - I think organ donation would also come into play at a 2013 quoted cost of an oem middle and box replacement at £2700!!!

You didn't let your 4 year old drive?

£311 - was that a dealer price ?

If you look on ebay at the moment - listing number 181803147557 - from Lexus Birmingham, they are listing an OEM water pump for £125

Anyone else on 90k or exceeded it on the original water pump ?

You will be looking at around £300 for an indie garage to replace the part. Worth the spend if you can get the £1000 back against the other car What mileage is the car on ?

It should be half the main dealer cost to source the parts and change these yourself - there are a lot of good manufacturers out there. Try the Lexus dealers on ebay (Sheffield / Edinburgh) for oem parts. You don't need specialist tools to do the change and I would recommend you do the work yourself as it would be handy to know how to grease the slide pins which is a requirement on these cars on at least an annual basis. If you don't want to do it yourself then ensure you ask the garage to grease them at your annual MOT but make sure they use the correct grease. There's a "how to" on the how to section regarding changing discs and pads. Takes about 45 minutes to do the fronts and maybe a bit longer for the rears

I agree - there are loads of articles on the web for additives - not all are for increasing performance though as quite a few have specific applications - I would be more interested in finding a good one that meets the needs of the engine as I would imagine there are a lot out there that are not suitable. I would look to the states on this as there has been a big issue over there with issues on carbon build-up of the engines running on lower ron values than our supermarket fuels - I would tend to err on the side of recommendations from users over there having used the additives with good results. Depends what you want from them I guess.

Hows the car running now that the sensors replaced

The Shell V power or the higher octanes are more expensive as they contain cleaning agents - factor that against buying the supermarket fuel and using an additive such as BG or Redex into the tank then it comes in around the same cost (maybe a little cheaper per fill depending on the additive you use) I have used the Shell V power and over time it has removed an issue I had with carbon build-up within the engine - at least it has not come back since I started using it. There are arguments on instances to use it and it does good to the running of the engine. I now use it in alternate fills with no issues.

Wont the excess grease shown in the picture attract a load of dirt etc .. There is quite a big cavity within the boot itself (on mine) which holds a lot of grease which keeps the pin lubricated ... Could this be an updated part by Lexus?

Remember you can add too much grease - Does the picture show the escaping grease after you have greased it or before? This pin acts more of a securing bolt for the caliper to the caliper frame. The pin is inserted through a rubber boot and there's no way it can rust to this rubber housing. This pin only needs a light smear of grease just so it slides ok on the rubber boot..there's far too much grease on the pin if that's escaped ,as there is quite a big chamber in the rubber boot that holds quite a bit of grease. I would pay more attention to the pins where metal is against metal as that's where you will be finding the problems are coming from. Also - what type of grease is shown in the picture ... it looks like its the colour of Castrol LM general use grease which is not suitable for this. Some types of grease will attack the rubber and over time they will lose their elasticity and fail and lead to water ingress. The type to use is the Toyota red rubber grease which you have which is designed to not attack the rubber whilst it lubricates the pins. Last point - its advisable to check the pins once a year - I do mine every 6 months and have not found the grease has dried out but clean and renew it anyway. A refurbed caliper will be fine as long as you babysit it as if just left it will fail - its one of those things on the car you will need to look after as there's no way round it. I am quite surprised due to the known issue by Lexus that they do not grease these on an annual service ?!

Welcome Afraid its not good news .... there's no way of obtaining a second key and re-programming it without the aid of main dealer help. You can buy a cheap second key from the likes of ebay and take to dealer to program it and that way it will cost around £300 or so but you will need to get the key itself (located inside the fob) cut to match the car. In hindsight - not what you want to hear probably - but it would have been a good bargaining point to get the price of the car reduced. Make sure you have the master key (3 button)

Have a look around the front coolant expansion bottle area - specifically at the water pump .... any white crust visible? It could be your water pump...