is200 Newbie

Below is a guide showing the process of the removal of the front grill and surround for a 2007 model IS250 I purchased an ISF grill and modded it in order to fit the IS250 - I need to add a bigger logo I think but can do this by using the existing old logo Once done I will post the final picture. PICTURE 1 - the first step is to remove the engine cover (front one only, over the radiator on the front of the car) There are 11 poppers to remove and once these have been removed then the plastic cover can be lifted out. PICTURE 2 - Next job is to remove the rubber seal around the top of the grill - this is held on with a few popper style tabs. Stretch the rubber so that it comes away from each tab. Easy job and once one has been removed you will see the process to do the remaining ones. Only take enough out to allow access to the grill (no need to remove all the seal from the car. PICTURE 3 - Next remove the 10mm bolt that secures the grill and surround to the body. There is only one bolt in the whole process to remove so once this has been removed that's it. PICTURE 4 - Next, two poppers on each side on the top of the grill need to be removed - these are a different style from the ones previously removed. PICTURE 5 - The grill and surround will now be loose - remove the grill first as it will be easier to remove the surround later - by pulling up on the tabs shown in the picture (there are 8 of them) Loosen the two side tabs first these two need to be pressed inwards (towards the engine) then do the bottom 6 tabs (these 6 need to be pressed upwards). There is a centre one which just acts as a guide. The grill comes out of the surround by pressing it back towards the engine - you will be able to guide it out easy enough without removing the surround. Once the grill is of, as in picture 5, you will have the option to remove the grill backing and add to the new grill (if you are fitting one) ... Choice is yours. I have not. PICTURE 6 - shows the front of the car with the grill removed PICTURE 7 - This shows a close up of the front of the car with the grill removed - I am not fitting the grill backing cover to the new grill but it can always go on after if required. PICTURE 9 - This shows the removed surround and tabs that you need to lift to remove if from the car - it is attached to the bumper - there are 8 in total (6 on the bottom and 2 on the sides) Start by doing the sides then the outer tabs on the bottom. Once you have one loose then you will realise how to do the others. PICTURE 8 - This shows the grill removed - the tabs that were earlier removed from the rubber seal can now be removed from the surround. They are only popper type. Once removed then put them back into the rubber seal. Doing this then its just a case of popping them back into the surround once re-fitted. PICTURE 10 - This picture shows the new grill loosely fitted into the surround to give an idea of what it will look like with the chrome surround. I have decided to paint the surround as I think it looks better matched to the car. I have also decided to replace the badge with a bigger one as I think this one is a bit small. Job for next weekend.!! PICTURE 11 - Picture shows the tab locations in the bumper - also a good indication of where these tabs are matched up to - two tabs (not shown in the picture, but in previous pics) are the two on the side of the surround. Easy job to put back in. You can put the grill into the surround first and pop them both back together at this point but I done it the way shown. PICTURE 12 - This shows the grill fitted back on the car - I do plan to replace the badge at a later date with a bigger one. The last two pictures are a before and after - personal opinion but I think this is a good mod. BEFORE - AFTER -

I don't do a lot of miles - usually around 6k per year and these are mostly short journeys so I change the oil every 6 months as I think it needs it. I have just changed it for the winter now and below is a guide on what's required and how to do it. PICTURE 1 - The picture shows the parts required to do the oil change: OIL CATCH CAN - there's 6 litres of oil to replace so make sure the can size is adequate to hold 6 litres else you will find there's one hell of a mess to clean up after. Use an old oil container half way through the change just to make sure the original container does not overflow and you will be fine. OIL - I have previously used Castrol Edge 5w/30 but this time I am using Castrol Magnatec 5w/30 (A1 type for fords but its compatible for the A5 Lexus type of oil - theres no reason for the change, I thought I would compare both as I had kept a record from the last change of how long the Edge took to discolour and also go down. It makes sense to purchase the two 4 litre tubs rather than a 4litre and 2 x 1litre tubs. 4 litre costs £31 and a 1 litre costs £12 so do the math and its more cost effective. OIL FILTER - this is the paper type and not the filter "in a can" type - make sure it has a new rubber "O" ring and also an oil sump plug washer. The sump washer will more than likely be supplied seperately TOOLS - Size 10mm and 14mm sockets / Oil filter removal tool. You wont need any other tools to do the oil change. ENGINE FLUSH - this is your choice - personally I think its a good idea to flush the engine when changing the oil as it removes the crud with the oil when draining it. I use Wynns engine flush and have done so for a good few years. You are basically cleaning your engine by changing the oil so you want to give it every chance of being clean. I do and have had no issue with it. So you now have the parts ... 1/ You can get to the sump plug and the oil filter without raising the car but I like to have a bit of room to do the work so I drive up onto 4 x 4" solid breeze blocks (one on each corner of the car) - this gives plenty of room to get under the car to move around etc ... you can use ramps or if you have a pit in your garage that's ideal. PICTURE 2 - The first job to do is locate the plastic oil cover housing and remove it using the 10 mm socket, there are 3 to remove, they secure the plastic assess cover to the plastic under shield so shouldn't be hard to remove. Once this is removed it will reveal the oil filter housing 2/ Once you have removed the cover and located the oil filter housing your first job is to loosen (slightly) the filter housing with the special tool - This needs to be the first job as there have been reports of this being applied too tightly on the previous oil change and its a nightmare to remove. If you skip this part and add the engine flush first and then find you cant remove the housing cap after then you will be driving around with degraded oil in the car. PICTURE 3 shows the oil filter housing and PICTURE 4 shows the application of the tool to remove the housing cover. Once you know the cover can be loosened then tighten it back up. 3/ At this point I pour the engine flush into the engine oil and run the car at 2000 revs for 20 minutes. Once the 20 minutes are over locate the sump plug - size 14mm socket PICTURE 5 - First, unscrew the oil filler cap in the engine, this will allow the oil to flow freely through the sump plug - next place the oil catch can under the oil sump plug and slowly undo this nut - the oil will be hot so be careful - the oil, if undoing the nut slowly will initially dribble out - you can judge the flow by undoing it a bit more each time until you are able to catch all of it with the nut off - half way through change the catch cans over so the used oil does not overflow. Once the oil has drained and leaving the sump plug off for the time being remove the oil filter housing cover - there WILL be oil released when doing this - Approx one large cup full so make sure to catch this in a container. Once the filter is off its quite self explanatory - replace the filter - replace the rubber seal ring on the housing cover (replacement should have come with the new filter) - rub a small amount of oil around the new seal and re-fit. Clean around the cover. Next replace the sump plug making sure to use the new washer. Clean around the nut. Re-fill the engine with oil - put the full 4 litre tub of oil in at first then check for leaks around the filter cap and sump plug - place a further 1.5 litres in, leave to settle for a few hours and then top up as necessary. Time to do the job - including the 20 minutes running time with the flush in the engine should be 40 to 60 minutes - cost of the job £70 max with 2 litres of oil to spare and you can re re-assured you have used the good stuff in the engine. Count in the cost of two beers then its a good job done. ! Dipstick before and after pictures 6 and 7

After replacing the faulty Bank 1, Sensor 1 sensor this week it made sense to replace the other Bank 2, Sensor 1 as they have both been in the car for the same period of time. Bank 1 took 15 minutes to do - Bank 2 took 1 hour 30 minutes to do. Both are located in the engine bay - Bank 1, Sensor 1is on the drivers side (UK models) and Bank 2, Sensor 1 is on the passenger side (UK models). Replacement of the Bank 1 sensor is in the IS250 general forum. Bank 2 is shown below. Take your time doing this one as there are a few parts to remove so be patient and do it right. Also - be careful not to drop anything through the engine on this side as it will not go straight through the engine bay to the floor as I found out with a screwdriver I dropped (shown in a picture). You can get dropped items out but its a bit of hassle doing so. There are non engine covers to remove on this side. Make sure the engine is cold. You will burn yourself if its hot !! Remove the battery terminals using a size 10 mm socket drive. Then remove the securing bar which is also a 10 mm nut. Remove the nut then lift the bar out of its securing tab as shown in the picture below (Picture 1) Next you will need to remove the frame that the battery sits in. This is a plastic formed frame - there is a connection that is secured onto the engine side of this frame that needs to be removed first before removing this from the battery. Once the connector is removed then the frame can be lifted out of the way - Picture below shows the location of the connector (picture 2) Just a note - you cannot get to the sensor without removing these items - they need to come out to replace it. It cant be got to from under the car either so the only way is down ! Picture below is of the removed battery - Panasonic? - don't know if this is the original battery that Lexus installed? (picture 3) The next picture shows the battery tray (battery removed) also shows the connector that you have removed from the battery housing - the "tray" that the battery sits on will just lift out of the way (not secured by anything) and once removed will reveal an electronic box you need to remove. While at this point it is wise to check a wiring "bung" indicated in the picture as I found when it rains that the rain passes this connection - just check for water tightness etc as the wiring from this leads into the cabin. (just thought I would check this while I had all the parts off the car) Picture below (Picture 4) With the battery tray now removed this will now reveal the electronic box and 3 plugs that need to be removed from it along with 3 bolts that need to be removed to get the unit out. The picture below describes how to remove the securing connectors from the plugs. Quite a fiddly job so be patient. Once you have the small securing tabs lifted up (by approx. 5mm) then the connector levers can be lifted upwards and in turn this will pull the connectors most of the way out. Total removal will require you to pull out gently so they are fully removed. There are 3 bolts indicated in the picture that removes the unit from the tray. I removed the bolts first as it gave me a bit of "play" to move the box around while removing the plugs but the plugs can come out first (I don't think there is a specific way to do this) (Picture 5) The picture below shows the unit removed after taking out the 3 bolts. (picture 6) The next picture shows the securing bolts (3 of them) that you will need to remove to get access to the sensor. Be careful when removing the tray as you will need to move the disconnected wires out of the way while doing this. Also - before the tray can be fully removed, there is a wire secured to it which is a bit awkward to get to the securing clip. If you are careful you can gently lift the tray up and get to the securing tab. Just squeeze these together and the clip will come off the tray. Once this is off then the tray can be lifted out... (picture 7) (picture 8) and (picture 9) Now you have the tray out the sensor can be fully visible - give it a good dose of WD40 - I found this sensor was quite tight and I used quite a bit of force (hammer and metal bar on the 22mm sensor socket) to get it loose enough to turn by hand. Careful if doing this. (3 to 4 whacks gave it up and it started to turn) the picture shows the sensor lead running to the socket. LOOSEN ONLY AT THIS POINT - You cannot see the sensor plug socket. (picture 10) The picture below shows the sensor plug / socket. It is not visible and can only be removed by feel so knowing where and how the socket is attached is important. The socket is located between the engine and bulkhead - if you look at the length of wire on the new sensor you have then this will give you a good idea of the location of the plug. The removal tab on the socket is the same as the Bank 1 socket - it is facing the bulk head. There is enough room to get both your hands in to remove the socket. Press the tab and gently pull the plug and it will come away. Take the plug out first as in doing so it will be easier as if you do the sensor first then the wires will twist as there are quite a few turns involved to take the sensor itself out. Remove the sensor and replace with the new one - take it easy at this point, due to the space involved, you could drop or damage the sensor but if you take it easy then there will be no issue. After replacing the sensor then plug it into the socket. (picture 11 and 12) The re-fitting is the opposite to removal. After completing it - and with the engine on, you will see a bit of smoke which is normal as it is the WD40 burning off and also the copper slip. It will go after a while. I hope this helps people doing the replacement - cost of both sensors was £150 (£200 if duty was applied), Denso sensors - 234-9051 - the sensors are the same for bank 1 and bank 2. Purchased from the USA.