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normski2

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  1. Maybe I'm over cautious. I just want to know that HID is dead. I would not want a jolt from one of them that's for sure. That capacitor holds a hefty charge. If you opt not to disconnect the battery it would be wise to only go in there after a day or overnight without use of the lights. It is easier to change a HID bulb than the Halogen type on the IS220/250. That's been my experience anyway.
  2. Personally ... I always take both leads off.There are no codes to be concerned about regarding the radio. I'd wear gloves too ... the throw away stretchy vinyl type are ideal. You don't want to impart any oils from your skin onto the bulbs ... same as you should do when handling Halogens. Remember you'll need to resync your electric window controllers after you reconnect the battery.
  3. Here are a couple of videos that will offer some enlightenment The second one shows you how to get at the offside bulb right at the end of the video.
  4. They are more expensive because they are very different to a Halogen bulb. They are also vastly superior to halogen bulbs.These are often referred to as HID bulbs - High-Intensity Discharge. Your old halogens that you are familiar will look something like this Whereas the HID bulb will look something like this Quote from Wiki "High-intensity discharge lamps (HID lamps) are a type of electrical gas-discharge lamp which produces light by means of an electric arc between tungsten electrodes housed inside a translucent or transparent fused quartz or fused alumina arc tube. This tube is filled with both gas and metal salts. The gas facilitates the arc's initial strike. Once the arc is started, it heats and evaporates the metal salts forming plasma, which greatly increases the intensity of light produced by the arc and reduces its power consumption. High-intensity discharge lamps are a type of arc lamp. Brand new high-intensity discharge lamps make more visible light per unit of electric power consumed than fluorescent and incandescent lamps since a greater proportion of their radiation is visible light in contrast to infrared. However, the lumen output of HID lighting can deteriorate by up to 70% over 10,000 burning hours." That last sentence is worth noting in the sense that they do deteriorate. That Amazon price is pretty darned good. You will often see them at £120 a pair. If you can change a Halogen bulb then you can change a HID bulb. You just need to take more precautions and care eg DISCONNECT the Battery. That's why there is a warning "Risk of electric shock" on the bulb cover plate. You can get it done at a garage by all means ...I've heard of one neighbour's friend paying £300 for 1 bulb to be changed!!!! The offside is easy, so do that first. The nearside is a little more tricky due to restricted space. There is a guide I put up for Halogen bulbs which will give you some clues for the nearside bulb and bits you need to move aside. There are plenty of useful videos on Youtube...even some dedicated to the Lexus IS250. Just remember to disconnect the battery and follow the advices given. Watch a few, they give useful insights and tips. You will also learn how to remove/replace the air filter. Remember, when you reconnect your battery you will need to resync/initialize your window controllers. Take a read here :- In fact this "How to" section is a very useful resource to make use of. Noobie has done some sterling work on brakes.
  5. You are quite right. It's a pretty hefty price too. Recently deleted but may be available if you search. There are many cheaper alternatives that many have used. Try a search of the forum.
  6. From time to time I clean the seal strip that touches the window face. Use something like a plastic trim removal tool with a wet cloth looped around the end. I use an old thin tea towel. Push it down between the seal and the glass, slide about 3-4" then slide a cleaner area of cloth into place and repeat all along the window. You will probably be amazed how much crap comes out. I would have thought if the rain sensing wipers played up after a windscreen change then the sensor pad may not have been bonded correctly to the windscreen. I plan on doing my windscreen in the not too distant. But I shall remove the sensor pad first myself and apply a new area of double sided material for re-bonding. Autoglass should be absolutely fine as long as they get the right one. Give them as much info as you can find. But that's true for any windscreen in all honesty.
  7. If your car requires it they will contact you. It's not all IS250's. You could try sticking your registration in here and see if it comes up with owt. https://www.toyota.co.uk/caring-for-your-toyota/owners/recall-checker.json
  8. Had mine done some time back. It is just a small O ring seal/gasket...but its fiddly to get at. They also filled up the tank afterwards.. don't know if they are still doing this .Worth asking.
  9. Don't know for sure. I remember reading about someone wanting to do it some time ago. Never felt the need to do mine so did not bother.
  10. Have not done those. You need some additional resistors I believe. Only exteriors I have done is Puddle lights, Reversing lights and Sidelights. You'll need metal bodied type for the sidelights. The heat generated by the headlight within the enclosure can melt the plastic bodied type.
  11. Be careful of the tail fitting type on the LED's you look at. I found this type works fine But this type (below) from my son's Audi kit were useless and did not work I got all mine from the Far East via Ebay ... maybe 3 yrs ago and they are all still fine. No Duds at all.They are now much cheaper than they used to be. The wing mirror(puddle lights) are a little fiddly first time around. But once you have the knack they are a doddle. Do not get anything longer than 23mm as they won't fit. You will need the ones like in the top picture. Take a good watch of the Precision video as it shows very clearly how to dismantle the mirror casing. Whilst in there clean out the interior and the drive gears and give a teeny squirt of WD40 , Ducks Back or similar.
  12. Thats quite right. Pretty much all of the festoon type in the interior are polarity sensitive. So ... one way they are dead ... take it out, turn thru 180° and bingo it works!!
  13. Take read here Should help you. I keep a copy of that note in my glovebox permanently.
  14. Glad to be of help. My missus has an MX-5. Smashing little cars. Now that we do need the deflectors for as it has good old halogens. We took the MX to Lake Annecy and on to Chamonix. With the roof down, that car really came into its element up in the mountain passes. The views were just amazing. It was a tad cramped on the longer parts of the journey though. We also had to travel fairly light. Did a similar trip last year down to the Auvergne region ... but in the IS250 .... lovely way to travel. This year we are off to nearish to Bergerac. Can we find a suitable property??? Retirement beckons with a warm smile..... and a glass or two of the red stuff.
  15. That's my experience too. If a vehicle has HID headlights then the beam pattern is flat. There is no kick up at the edges to throw light up at the kerbside. So you don't need stick on deflectors. More pertinently .... when did you ever see a french car with headlight deflectors in the UK? Some on here had a letter from Lexus GB. I keep a copy in my glovebox so its there to show if needed. I did actually show to a friendly gendarme (honestly he really was) .. he smiled, shrugged his shoulders and said "Oui". All you need do is copy and paste, and substitute IS300H in the relevant places and then print. This is the note Dear Sir Thank you for your further email. I can confirm that the HID (High Intensity Discharge) headlamps on the IS 250 do not need to be converted for travel on the continent. The set up of the headlamp is such that the light shines in a horizontal flat beam which has no kick up and as such is not dazzling to drivers of oncoming cars. As you have suggested, we would recommend that the Intelligent Adaptive Front-lighting System (I-AFS) is switched off when travelling on the continent. Yours sincerely Claire Newman Customer Relations Executive Translated by Google Translate 16 Septembre 2013 Monsieur Merci pour votre plus email. Je peux confirmer que les HID (High Intensity Discharge) phares sur le IS 250 n'ont pas besoin d'être convertis pour les voyages sur le continent. La mise en place du projecteur est telle que la lumière brille dans un faisceau plat horizontal qui n'a pas de coup de pied et en tant que telle n'est pas éblouissant pour les conducteurs venant en sens inverse des voitures. Comme vous l'avez suggéré, nous recommandons que le système frontal de l'éclairage adaptatif intelligent (I-AFS) soit éteint lorsque vous voyagez sur le continent. Cordialement Claire Newman Relations exécutif à la clientèle
  16. I would not be concerned about the electric movement on the steering column. The rear blind I find is brilliant. Excellent for rear passengers on one of those sunny days...saves their heads being roasted. Also very useful for night driving as it takes out headlight glare. Memory seat settings are great. One for me and one for the wife. The flappy paddles are great fun. Well, I think they are. It's just like having a manual but with no clutch operations. You can have a bit of fun with it! Great for overtaking. Lexus do the spark plugs at 60,000 mls or 6 yrs, whichever comes first. My 6 year service was at 58,000 and that's when they were done. From my experiences the facelifted SEL auto variant (mine is MY2010) is a cracking good car. Can't speak of the Advance or F Sport... never driven them.
  17. I do mine every time I wash the car...so its usually once a week. Having said that they got pretty caked from a month in France. I found it was all tar spots. I've used White Spirit, Turps, Meths and Paraffin at various times and depending what I have in the garage. If they are pretty spattered try soaking an old dish cloth (or the like) soaked with White Spirit and wrap the cloth around the tip for about 10 mins or so to get the tar softened. Put a drip catcher under so you don't spoil your driveway. You want a solvent that does not evaporate too quick. Wurth Industrial cleaner works a treat .... but evaporates stupidly fast. I've always found it comes off pretty easy after the soaking method. You could use something like 0000 grade wire wool... but keep it fine grade. Then a chrome cleaner to get 'em shining.
  18. Bit of a long shot. I'm only suggesting this as maybe there is a possible indication from your diagnosis that something warming up changes the situation. Have a look if any exhaust pipe heat shrouds are close to the bodywork. Sometimes you can get strange intermittent sounds from that. They are quite malleable and can be easily shaped by hand to suit.
  19. I'll just share this with you guys having just had my car serviced by a caring indy The oil filter was massively over tightened. To quite ridiculous extent. Despite asking that slide pins be greased at last Lexus service the rears were pretty much seized. Independant has now successfully greased all slide pins and done oil change. I'll forego my FLSH in the knowledge that my services have been done properly.
  20. Great little cars ...wifey has one!! What year is it? Wifeys is Sunlight Silver Mk2.5 NB. You can just about make it out hiding behind my car in the pic below. Check that the sill drain holes are clear...underneath the car where the sill meets the underside at a a pinched joint. Otherwise you'll be carrying water around and promoting rust. Also, locate the interior drain point just behind the seat each side. It allows for any water run off from the soft top to escape into a plastic sided catch area and then down a smallish drain hole. Stick a rod down (straightened coat hanger works ok) it and you should see it come out to the ground below. The drain can get blocked by crud over time and then you'll have a wet carpet. Where's your battery .. bonnet or in the boot? MX5 owners clubs are good forums for info and help. Found a brilliant method of reprogramming remote fob for free....unbelievable method sounding like smoke and mirrors... but it worked like a charm. Mazda wanted £200 to do it.......Bl***y thieves. This place can be useful from time to time. http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/?gclid=CJ3G0u6MoswCFYcp0wodKpgMUg
  21. Wow that was a scary title! I'm a little surprised it was hard to move on. They are, relatively speaking, (undiscovered by the masses) little gems. Well in my opinion anyway. What will you be moving to? Staying with Lex? Be sorry to see you go if you do move on elsewhere.
  22. Seen over Hampshire yesterday. Enjoying the clear skies no doubt!!
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