is200 Newbie

Got some on order - should manage to do at the weekend if weather is ok

Worm gear I have given the spares I had of these away now. I found them from a supplier who cold called the company I work for looking for business. The ones I had from him were samples from his boot stock. he never left a card and he was going to send me his catalogue .... still waiting ! The originals are made by a company called ASMO which I believe is a division of Denso. They may be a standard off the shelf item if you want to do a search - the dimensions are below shown in the picture

Good advice I don't like using ebay for this type of thing but its sometimes the only or best place to compare items like this from. I am only planning on doing the puddle lights as I don't think there's a lot of light from the OEM bulbs. I quite fancy doing the door lights but placing the logo ones on just for a bit of bling - don't know how good they are but cheap enough to give it a go.

MARC - That's cheap - 10 for under £5 ... are they reliable? ERIC - Fixed the reverse tilt - works fine now and holds its memory - a good clean and two replaced plastic worm gears (one in each mirror), quite an easy job. To get to the bulbs you only need to take the mirror and the housing off (4 screws) the bulb housing should drop down then.

Done a quick search on ebay to see whats out there These keep popping up from the USA - item number 130510386635 - these are 12 SMD and do state they are suitable for Lexus 250. They state size is 045" inches diameter (11.43 mm) and 0.922 inches long (23.41 mm) NORMSKI - When you say the LED needs to be no longer than 25mm, is that the full length of the bulb including the connector or just the LED part Picture below

Thanks guys

I have been into the guts of my mirrors today - I had the intention of changing the bulbs when I had the mirrors in bits but have not got round to getting any better bulbs !! Below are pictures of the OEM bulb and the holder with the bulb info on it. Can I fit brighter bulbs in here - maybe LED ones and will they fit and work ok? Any recommendations?

Finally got around to looking at these.- the tilt function when reversing worked well when I bought the car but over time it has reduced to the point where it just twitched when moving into reverse. I planned to have a look at it months ago but just never got round to doing it. I done it today and took pictures of each step. It took half an hour for the first mirror and 20 minutes for the second so not a time consuming job. I needed to replace two worn plastic motor worm gear cogs which had partly stripped and I gave the mirrors a very good clean inside and out. Re-greased and oiled. They had accumulated a lot of dirt over the years and I don't think anyone had been in them since it rolled off the production line so it was a well worthwhile job. They are now working spot on and are holding their memory positions when starting the car. I could not get them to stop working after testing them for about 10 minutes so am happy and confident they are now fixed. I think the winter has a big effect on them when they are frozen up - they will automatically try to set themselves to the user position and also will try to move when reversing which puts a strain on the motors making them skip and strip teeth. Anyway - what I have done below worked for me - I have two good motor units left spare which I sourced which you can use the plastic work gear from or the units themselves if anyone does this and finds they need them. Pictures below are in sequence marked from picture 1 to 14. I have never managed to fit them into a post with instructions against them so the instruction is on the picture itself.

Nice job

Totally agree with you ... been through it with a previous car (Vauxhall) and to be honest I got nowhere so took it on the chin. A year later when it developed the same fault after vx told me there was no issue at all with it I managed to px it at the Vauxhall dealer I bought it from and it was then that I bought my first lexus which was a 200 by the way (the vx was knackered - engine valves had gone, using oil by the jug load but ran fine, so as I said in the first post what goes around ....). A few faults with the Lex when I bought it it but I prioritized the repairs needed and got them done. Looking back - yes it was worth it and it was one of the best cars I have had. Brake discs are very easy - if you have the space you can do these yourself to save labour costs - cost will be around £80 approx. for the discs and another 20 for the pads. Job will take an hour if that max.. I also had my cam belt done (by Lexus) but I managed to get the price reduced. Thought it was cheeky at the time asking for them to reduce the price but they did. One tip if you are getting it done. Get the other belts done at the same time as they need to come off to replace the cam belt anyway and for the price of the part only then its well worth it. 100k is the typical realistic interval to change the cam belt or 6 years. I had mine changed at 8 years and 90k miles. The belt was returned and looked fine. If the cars been looked after then it will do you fine

Forgot to mention - it actually holds 6.5 litres of oil

I was thinking bike pedal if that's the only damage - was it parked where a bike could get got that close?

Pictures wont open ...

Sometimes its just better to learn by your mistakes and cut your losses - not saying that it makes anything better but consider the hassle / stress you are going through..... it may be better to just accept it happened - learn the lesson in this case and move on to repair the car yourself. I have learned that what goes around comes around. If its a daily runner then it would make sense to get it done asap You will need to face the guy at some point if you take it to him to repair - would you trust him to do a satisfactory job, I wouldn't

I have just changed my oil last weekend - doing it yourself will cost you £60 which is inclusive of the oil - I used 5/30 magnatec / oil filter / engine flush. That's my preference. You can find other brands that's cheaper. I bought all parts from Europarts as they had them in stock. I had an issue a while back where mine used a bit of oil after I used Castrol edge - I changed to magnatec and the level has been steady ever since. I change the oil every 6 months or so as I don't do excessive miles. Cars on 86k with no issues. I do get a valve rattle every now and then but I have put that down to having new oil in the engine - it disappears after a while, my thinking is that the new oil is less viscous as the used oil and it runs a bit more freely from the valve reservoir. Only lasts a second if that.. Its an easy job to do the oil yourself and in doing it yourself you know what is going into the engine.

Fair enough - guess my car is noisy enough now anyway with the exhaust fitted that I don't notice any road noise at all. Drowns out the wife as well which aint a bad thing !! She's is not on the forum or reads it !!

Don't shout at me ... I understand the issue with grip but not the noise. I had two tyres (fronts) fitted recently I asked for a mid range decent tyre and they fitted 2 x Avons ZVR. I didn't ask for anything in particular other than two new tyres I needed - they have rubber on them / quiet, and do help the car stop ok and cost £60 each, fitted. I don't consider that to be too expensive, quite cheap actually. Whats the issue with noise? Does it not depend on what type of road you are travelling on? If you are on a road that has been patched up for example then the noise will change between the smooth and rough sections. I have never had a tyre that's been noisy to an extent where its really noticeable.

Good choice - welcome

Got the head unit off no problems - took, maybe 15 minutes.to remove it (to be honest I have had it out once before) 4 air vent clips / 4 nuts and the two plastic silver fillets by the gear stick. Connectors all numbered up so I can take it out to replace the DVD unit easier. Took about an hour in total from taking out to testing it when it was back in. The hardest part was putting the 2 bottom bolts back in due to the space involved. I used a telescopic magnetic holder to locate the nuts then tightened up.

I have been in the guts of the dashboard today rooting around the head unit area. I took the centre vents out to get access to 2 of the 4 bolts to take the centre head unit out. I noticed a piece of foam on top of the centre vents between them and the dashboard. Is this the location and the remedy applied to the issue of the cracking sound? If so, a picture below indicated where its placed on mine and since I have owned the car I have had no issue with the noise. Its a bit like the soft side of a Velcro set (the loop side) but a bit thicker.

I took the amp out today - revealed a vent to the outside from the boot. A few small leaves and some dirt in the well also. Doesn't seem like an ideal place to put an electrical part like this with the connections facing the vent?! Looks like there has been a bit of a manufacturer modification in putting a plastic shield in the way to deflect any moisture or dirt. Definitely work a preventative check to see it your vents are clear of dirt as if they are blocked or obstructed then moisture and dirt will be entering the boot. I noticed the nut securing the amp to the body was a bit corroded. Picture below shows the vents - you can only get to them by removing two nuts to move the amp out of the way. So I took the amp out to see if there was anything obvious that was blown - there are no fuses in the amp itself. I opened it up and everything seemed ok - a bit dirty but with a clean everything looked good. - pictures below are how to open it up. So with no fault found I put it all back together, cleaned out the dirt from the amp location and connected it all up. Still no sound. Next I took the head unit out - I re-seated all the leads in case they had come loose. Connected it back up. Still no sound. So ..... I am looking at replacing parts now. I am pretty sure the amp is ok as its working fine in providing sound for the radio etc. I think the problem lies with the bottom disc unit as the issue seems to be with discs (originals and DVD's providing no sound). Anyone know if that's likely to be the issue or the correct part - I don't want to go round changing all the parts out as it can turn out to be quite expensive. I guess the last thing to do would be to remove this unit / strip down and check it out for any noticeable issues.

When you switch your car on and turn the lights on can you see them levelling? Just to prove the motors are ok Better to do it in the dark as its easier to spot. If so, it may be as you said but thinking about it , they would level out every time you turn the lights on.... check the motors by turning the lights on in the dark and watch to see if the the beams move. At least you can discount any issues with the motors if they are fine. Remember to reset the windows as well.

The discs all work in other music players. Oddly enough the ones that work are burned from PC and the original ones don't work. DVD's are original and they work in other players. I have read the post on the chap fixing his amp, I think he replaced two components in it. I will take the head unit out at the weekend and re-seat the connections and also do the amp as well but the last time I took it out they were all secure. .. I will break open the amp as a last resort as I can use the stereo at the moment so would rather not kill it totally. I don't think I am confident enough to get down to component level on something like this but I will give it a go. It would be nice to see users re-posting remedies that have worked against their original posts - pictures are always very helpful.

Not a new topic from me but I am a bit further on with a resolution and hope people can help from this point? I have found out tonight that the system, which is an ML system, (no aftermarket mods etc), will not play ordinary CD's, no sound. Car is an IS250 (2007) It will play MP3 discs and anything connected in the Aux port. It will recognise there is a normal music CD in the unit as its indicated its playing via the timer on the screen. It will recognise there is a DVD in the unit as there is video on the screen but no sound. Radio works fine. Nav works fine. The DVD and CD's have worked in the past but for some reason have now stopped. In both instances (CD and DVD playback) there is no visual notification on the screen where it usually shows that there is any increase or decrease from the volume button when turning the button up or down. I think this rules out the Amp? Has anyone experienced this - it looks like a software issue as the CD and DVD's are running. Does the DVD and CD work on the same channel to the AMP / Same wire etc? I did take the unit months ago just to see if there were any wires loose ant there weren't any. I could take it out again and re-seat the connectors just to make sure. Any help out there?

I have a 250 - the exhaust failed just after the resonator a couple of years ago. A bit premature I think but Lexus would not have any of it and quoted for a replacement.