johnatg

Those are neither the US nor UK paint names - maybe they are the Chinese or Japanese market names? My car, for example, is 6U3 - Sargasso Green in UK, Desert Sage Metallic in USA, Midnight Green Mica (above), also Mid Green and Medium Green Pearl on various web sites. Just goes to show - don't go by paint names - always use the code!

It may well fool speed cameras etc (or their ticketing systems) which are largely automated these days. Sent from my PSP7551DUO using Tapatalk

DG65 OHE Honest guv - I never noticed! Sent from my PSP7551DUO using Tapatalk

Sounds expensive.........

Pretty much what to expect - some tanks you'll get a bit more, some a lot less. Maybe you were pussyfooting a bit! [emoji18] Don't trust the computer for tank average too much. Sent from my PSP7551DUO using Tapatalk

Looking at that tyre wear - I'd certainly get an alignment check. That isn't the sort of wear I'd normally associate with under-inflation or 'too many roundabouts'!

Jack - see the thread where Paul posted - Oct 2017. 12.64 volts is perfectly adequate - you risk damaging the battery if you charge it more unless your charger is an electronically controlled trickle charger. Put it in the car - it will work fine!

758 (in C5C758942) - makes it Oct 2017.

If you use Dot 5.1 brake fluid, you certainly need to replace it every two years. Lexus specify Dot 3 fluid and if you use that or Dot 4 I personally think it is overkill to replace it at 2 year intervals - I consider it perfectly OK to do the change at up to 4 year intervals - I have always done mine (in all the cars I service) at 3+ year intervals with no ill effects - there's nothing different about Lexus brake systems to change that view, at least in the UK climate. Garages often don't bother to change brake fluid unless you ask them specifically, even when it's on the service schedule. Brake fluid (incidentally, don't call it 'oil' - no-one in UK does and it's not oil - it's miscible with water for one thing) comes in 4 flavours - Dot 3, Dot 4, Dot 5.1 and Dot 5. Dot 3, 4 and 5.1 have increasing boiling points as you do along the range but also increasing hygroscopic properties - they absorb water which is why they need changing. The absorbed water reduces the boiling point of the fluid. So Dot 5.1 has the highest initial boiling point but absorbs the most water. As the chance of boiling your brake fluid of whichever type in an IS250 in the UK is vanishingly small, I use Dot 4. Actually I don't really understand why Dot 3 and Dot 4 are sold alongside each other - they are, to all intents and purposes, interchangeable. Dot 5.1 is very hygroscopic and I would avoid it for that reason - its use is really only justified in race and rally situations. Dot 3, Dot 4 and Dot 5.1 fluids are Glycol Ether based and are fully compatible, except for provisos above. Dot 5, however is a completely different kettle of fish and is Silicone based. It has the advantage of high boiling point and is completely immiscible with water. Apparently however it is slightly compressible and that leads to a soft feeling brake pedal. Its use is really restricted to some specialised vehicles such as amphibious ones, some military vehicles and some motorcycles. It is also used in show cars which rarely turn a wheel and where the brake fluid is almost never changed. A tip re changing brake fluid - if you keep the end of the tube leading from the bleed nipple to the waste collection jar above the level of the nipple, you don't need to immerse the tube in the waste fluid and you don't need to worry about tightening the nipple whilst keeping the brake pedal depressed. You can do the pumping of the brake pedal then saunter back to the brake and tighten the nipple - any bubbles go upwards in the tube rather than going back into the brake caliper. One man bleeding with no special kit! I put the waste collection jar on the second step of a step stool - be careful it doesn't fall off though! Lexus specify some complicated procedure which involves using the Intelligent Tester to change brake fluid - this seems to be something to do with bleeding the Brake Actuator. But just doing it in the old fashioned way seems to work OK - at least it bleeds out quite a lot of old fluid. Air filter - Lexus specify every 40K miles - I do it at 2 year intervals (much less than 40K miles).

You only need the belt. Get one made by Gates - eg there's one on eBay for £13.90. Dead easy to fit - just turn the tensioner with a socket, insert an allen key to lock it, slip off the old belt, on with the new, use the socket to release tension on the tensioner, remove allen key, release tension. Check that the belt is running true - not overlapping an edge of a pulley. Make a note or take a pic of the routing before you start! I changed mine a couple of years ago as a precaution as it was 10 years old. No symptoms and the old belt looked to be in good nick. Your problem may be something else. Or not.

PS Check this - http://www.comparaboo.co.uk/best-car-batteries Based on an agglomeration of feedback reviews I think. And mostly for the very common type 063 battery rather than our rare 068! Not included there, but maybe the 'best battery' could be the Optima Red Top - but it will cost more than twice the price of a Bosch in 068 size. It's specified as 50 Ah and 815 CCA. They are frequently fitted to SUVs etc. But it won't do any better job in an IS250 than the Bosch.

The only specification Lexus publish is 12v and 55 Ah - they don't mention CCA. The Bosch S4026 is 70Ah. £68 too cheap for you? You can pay £94 if you like from alternative suppliers (and maybe more). But you'll still get the same S4026 battery. Bosch do 5 year warranty batteries (they come in a silver case rather than blue for the 4 year ones) but not in type 068. I'll repeat for the umpteenth time on this thread - the Bosch S4026 or Varta E23 are probably the 'Best Buy' for an IS250 battery. You can get better batteries for a lot more money, but battery life depends quite a lot on how you use the car - no battery likes standing unused for days or weeks on end, or short journeys. Medium length journeys every day with minimum electrcal accessories in use make the battery last longer than other types of usage.

If you don't mind me saying so - a pretty daft question to ask on this forum! (Or on a Mercedes Benz forum!)

Interesting that Tayna give the incorrect battery if you type in your reg - they suggest 069 with the terminals in the wrong orientation. You can't be too careful out there!

That's the wrong battery - like many battery suppliers Halfords try to fob you off with one that will do (as indeed it will). It is a Type 030. IS250 needs a 068 - that's a rare size (it doesn't even appear on many battery size specification charts) and few battery suppliers stock them. 068 is the same size as 069 but with the terminals in the opposite orientation. I'd suggest you get a Bosch S4026 or Varta E23 (they appear to be identical). Suppliers include CarParts4Less, GSF etc. You are unlikely to find it in stock in a shop. It is likely that your battery is knackered - modern batteries frequently fail without warning. You don't mention what year your car is (and your profile says you have a 2001 IS200) but I think all IS250s need the same battery size.

Wasn't that VAT you were stung for? It's pot luck - sometimes you have to pay it, sometimes you get away with it. The duty / VAT will be the same from Australia as from USA. I don't think I paid any extra when I bought my PO-40.

I agree that it makes negligible difference to fuel economy (even on smaller engines such as our Seat Mii) and any vehicle aircon should be kept on at all times to minimise problems. (Although, Linas, keeping it on hasn't avoided your problem!). It is essential for the lubricant (suspended in the gas) to be circulated whenever the engine is running.

Well, you've had some good advice from this forum - most if not all the many tyres mentioned will do the job for most conditions in this country and I doubt you would notice much difference between any of them. (Unless you do a head to head test in varied conditions - even most tyre test mags can't afford to do that with many different tyres and even then the differences will not be great and only at the limits of performance) And unless you do drive on snow and ice, in which case you will notice a difference and that will just demonstrate that the Costco guy soesn't know what he is talking about. And anyway, all rwd 'executive' saloons (Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, Lexus etc) are pretty useless and a handful on almost any tyres on wet snow and ice. Things get better on dry snow and ice, but it doesn't get cold enough here for that (but it might this week!) You did ask about all year round tyres - there is little choice in UK for tyres meeting that description = almost all tyres sold here are defined as Summer tyres. The only sensible all round choice (which means they have some winter tyre characteristics), are Michelin Cross Climates - they are head and shoulders above everything else with usage defined as all year round. Or you can go for two sets, winter and summer. Winter tyres work all year round but they wear rapidly when the temperature is above 7 deg C and they don't perform quite as well as even medium rated summer tyres when it gets warm.

Some tyres are much, much better than others on snow and ice. I remember vividly driving in central Norway in the winter about 12 years ago - I was driving a Opel Astra and was able to do over 100 kph on hard packed snow with Continental winter tyres - and in full control. And I was still overtaken by the occasional truck and coach going even faster. The temperature was -17deg C. And down by the coast (or at least a fjord) I passed a british car - I forget what it was. He was obviously not on winter tyres and was pretty much out of control. Proper winter tyres are amazing!

Avon ZV7 But if you need semi winter tyre performance, Michelin Cross Climates. Not sure if you can get any of these in your size. Sent from my PSP7551DUO using Tapatalk

I think you will find it will protrude - space savers are fitted for a reason...... Your car has Type A wheels/tyres - Lexus recommended tyre size is 205/55R16 89W (see the handbook) There may be insurance issues with using V rated tyres. You could check with your insurance company - some don't mind you fitting lower speed rated tyres, others do. I once asked both my insurance company (I forget which) and the police and neither minded that I planned to fit H rather than recommended V rated tyres (I think it was on a Mazda 626, but it was a long time ago). If you drive in Europe I think you must have correct speed rated tyres (ie W)

Check the battery connections - they can push off a bit as you tighten the clamps. Try very gentle tapping with a light hammer as you tighten them. If that doesn't work check the earth to body (from the battery) where it connects to the body.

Have you changed the oil feed pipe to the turbo? If not, you certainly should - blockage of it is the usual cause of turbos failing, especially failure of a recently fitted one.

Ken is absolutely correct! Here you go: 'TWC' means 'Three Way Catalyst' I don't think £1700 even includes the manifolds/front cats, does it?

Looking at the drawings of the pipes again it occurs to me that the things in the front exhaust assembly which look like cats can't actually be cats - the cats are incorporated into the exhaust manifold assemblies - see here: You'll see that the air fuel ratio sensors are in front of the cats and the heated oxygen sensors (which check on cat performance) are in the front exhaust pipe assembly but in front of the bulges which people posting above (including me) have assumed are cats. So if the 'bulges' aren't cats, what are they? Just expansion chambers?