ChumpusRex

The heater should come on automatically when started if in manual mode. However, in automatic mode, it will wait 2 or 3 minutes to allow the engine to warm up first.

Yeah. Nightbreakers are only designed for a 100 hour life. Most headlight bulbs are designed for 500, with premium bulbs about 250.

That is correct. I just had mine done at 2 years/30k - and according to my mechanic it looked new, with absolutely no debris or shavings caught on the magnetic trap.

engine rpm signal is pin 16 of connector J34 - white wire.

All this is normal. There is meant to be a 1 second lag when selecting D, and there is meant to be a soft jerk. At above 40 mph, the transmission will go into "torque converter lock up" mode. When you accelerate the TC will unlock, and the revs will go up, feeling like it has changed down gear, when it hasn't. When speed stabilises, then the TC will lock again, and the revs will drop, feeling like it has changed up gear. The transmission is also designed to miss gears out when changing down, if necessary - and it will change from 4 straight to 2, if you push the accelerator hard, or the mode selector is in power mode. It will also shift up several gears, if you have been accelerating hard and then let off.

White light is a bit of a gimmick, as it causes more glare in rain and fog than normal, but it's a very minor difference. It also removes light from the beam, so that the filament has to run hotter and the durability is reduced. In general, the actual brightness of the bulbs is strictly regulated by law - a car bulb must produce a prescribed amount of light, no less, no more otherwise they are illegal. Now, the manufacturers use a bit of marketing trickery to claim "50% brighter" or whatever. Whenever anything is manufactured, there is a degree of variability. In the case of a car headlamp, the filament position and size may vary slightly, as may the position of the glare blocker. Because of the precise nature of a headlight lens and reflector, small variations in filament position can make quite a big difference in light output. The fancy "50% brighter" bulbs are made to higher precision, and the filament is more compact - so you get the same amount of light, but more gets onto the road. The manufacturers don't say how they work out their brightness claims, but I'd guess that they take the worst possible beam performance from a regular bulb and compare it to the worst possible performance from their premium bulb. In reality, most bulbs are manufactured pretty close to optimal, so the actual real benefit of premium bulbs is rarely much at all. You pay a price for the increased performance. Precision manufacturing is more expensive. The more compact filament runs hotter and at higher stress, so the bulb is less durable. For example, a standard H11 headlight bulb from a good brand (e.g. Philips) is rated for 500 hours usage; whereas a premium upgraded H11 bulb (Osram night breaker) is only rated for 150 hours.

Any design change which alters the behaviour of a part, will be sold as a different part (with a different number). For example, lexus specify a 5000 mile service interval for the IS in the USA, but 10k miles in the UK. To keep costs down, they specify a cheaper, lower-performance oil filter in the US - however, it has a different part number allowing you to tell the difference, and is labelled as US model only. Tax isn't an issue. HMRC will charge VAT and import duty as applicable on private imports; some might slip through in private mail, but generally anything sent by courier or insured will get caught and you'll be charged for it. I do wonder if it was just a business decision by Sewells. Dealing with international sales is more expensive, more complex and prone to higher risks (e.g. credit card chargebacks, lost deliveries, etc.) However, it is the case that lexus parts are relatively difficult to get in the UK, except though dealers, and aftermarket options are limited. Some parts which are used on a lot of popular toyota, mitsu, nissan and subaru models are easily obtained in the aftermarket (e.g. IS250 MAF sensor which is used on dozens of models - £75 for a denso sensor, £170 for a lexus sensor). However, things like O2 sensors which are only used on the IS250 and a number of US only models of toyota/lexus are basically not available in the aftermarket. Expect to pay about £180 per sensor from a dealer, or you can get an aftermarket Denso sensor (i.e. the exact same sensor from the same factory but without the toyota name) from the US for £65+postage+duty+VAT - comes to about £100 each.

Don't bother. There is no viable upgrade. If you must, then try to get hold of philips 9011 bulbs. These are basically upgraded halogen bulbs. They are decently brighter, but for legal reasons they aren't allowed to fit into conventional headlights. So, they come with a tab that you cut off and then they are a perfect fit. The tab is even labelled with cut lines. LED retrofits are so dim as to be useless. Only other option is HID, but wiring is difficult and there is a lot of sensitive electronics which can be disturbed by cheap HID units. I've seen video of an IS250 start steering itself, steering wheel flailing from side to side all on its own with such force that it could have broken a child's arm, all because someone installed an aftermarket HID ballast in a convenient space next to the steering ECU.

Yup. Those are the ones I got most recently. They work nicely. A fair bit brighter than the stock bulbs, but nowhere near as bright as the cheap Chinese bulbs.

LED side lights are not road legal. However, no one really cares, and you'll get through an MOT fine. Lexus don't put "bulb failure detectors" in their cars, so any bulb will work, as long as it will physically fit. Many German cars have bulb failure detectors installed, and these give errors or warning lights with LEDs installed. You don't need "CANBUS compatible" bulbs

Worth checking the alignment - incorrectly set geometry can cause vague steering, tramlining and pulling under breaking. As it's a RWD car, make sure you get a 4 wheel alignment done, as the rear wheels can be out of alignment and cause problems like steering wheel off centre, etc.

Most of the chinese bulbs are of poor quality. I've used several sets over the last 2 years (which should give you an idea of how long they last). I had some of these, most recently: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/T10-501-W5W-NEW-MODEL-interior-WHITE-LED-8-SMD-5630-CREE-Q5-bulbs-LADA-/181155853919?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2a2dbaf65f. They fell apart after 9 months (wires fell off due to poor quality soldering). They were bloody bright though - see picture. I've now switched over to the Philips x-treme vision LED "5x brighter" ones. These aren't as bright as the ebay LEDs, but are built to a visibly much higher quality, while also being much smaller so that they fit better. The philips ones are available in 3 colour temperatures - 4000k: similar to the OEM HIDs, 6000k: pure white similar to aftermarket HIDs and 6700K: white with a blue tinge. Search google for "philips x-treme vision w5w led". You pay for the quality though.

The HID bulbs are relatively expensive £30-40 per bulb. So, you might not want to change both bulbs for new ones. It's quite a lot of work to get to the bulbs (at least on an IS250) and quite fiddly (I changed a side light today, and lost a bolt somewhere on the car's undertray). The other issue is that the bulbs change colour as they age, and they get dimmer with age too. If you change one you may find the new one is bright white, and the older one is a dimmer purple. I'd recommend getting a good brand bulb (Osram, Philips or Toshiba) to avoid having to change them again. Philips are easily available at a good price and indistinguishable from the Toshiba/Harison bulbs that came from the factory. The cheapies do work, but mine only lasted about 18 months; the surviving bulb was also MUCH dimmer than the replacement. Example: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-x-PHILIPS-D4S-XenEco-Xenon-35W-Xenon-HID-BULB-4300K-42402-BEST-QUALITY-/301104494833

Most likely to be a faulty bulb. A bulb working when cold, but going out once fully warmed up is a very common type of bulb failure.

I don't have enough technical details to know how the new key production works. The "official" way of programming new keys in audi cars requires a working key to put the car into "programming" mode. If you don't have a working key to hand, you have to replace almost the entire electrical system and door locks. However, it is possible to bypass this somehow - probably, people have worked out how to modify the firmware on the security ECU, and upload a new firmware which has the check for an existing key deleted. My brother bought a newish 2nd hand Audi A3, but it only came with 1 key. One day he lost it. He called the dealer: ultra-secure system, no way to reprogram new keys. £3000 for a new ECU, new security unit, new locks, etc. He leaves the car at home, and takes the train to work. He phones an independent "security specialist" while at work. 2 hours later, the security bloke turns up at his work, with 2 new car keys and a bill for £400. He'd gone to my brother's house, broken into the car, reprogrammed the ECU, decoded the locks, cut 2 keys and matched the immobiliser chips to the car, and then hand delivered them to my brother 10 miles away. Toyota/lexus do seem to secure their electronics better than audi/BMW. Look how difficult it is to get a remap for a toyota or lexus! The electronics has reasonably good anti-tamper technology in it (to prevent competitors from stealing the technology in the programs). Whether this is actually because of better design, or because there are fewer electronics experts trying to reverse engineer lexus ECUs than BMW ECUs, I don't know.

Just bear in mind that the 2IS (including the IS-F) only has basic toe adjustment capability. Camber and caster angles cannot be adjusted without installing aftermarket suspension components. No idea why lexus didn't build camber adjustment into the IS, when they did in the GS. Even less idea why the IS-F doesn't have it, other than I suppose lexus wanted to reuse as many parts as possible.

The IS-F is no different to any other car when it comes to alignment. Anyone with an alignment measurement machine and a spanner can do it. Not all Lexus dealers have the facilities to do the alignment themselves, as a good quality alignment tool is very expensive. Getting alignment right is also complicated, and the staff training is also very expensive. Many just take the car to a local garage that does wheel alignment. The only thing where it can get a bit difficult is that if the steering wheel is off and adjusted, the VSC system may need to be recalibrated. The garage doing the alignment needs a computer to delete the calibration from the VSC system, so that it can re-learn. Obviously, the lexus diagnostic system can do this. But, lots of high-end alignment machines come with software that can trigger a VSC recalibration on pretty much any car (even lexus). The alignment industry typically calls this process a "steering angle sensor reset" or "SAS reset" - so ask your garage if they can do this before taking the car down. Most should be able to do this, as it is an essential part of wheel alignment on any car with VSC/ESP (and all cars from 2013 MUST have VSC/ESP by law). I'm not normally a fan of manufacturer sponsored "good garage guides", but you might want to check http://www.alignmycar.co.uk. This is sponsored by a manufacturer of high-end alignment machines, so it's not independent. However, I've taken several cars (inc my IS250) to random garages and to a couple of AMC sponsored garages. Both the AMC garages got it absolutely spot on, and it was obvious when talking to the tech that they knew exactly what they were doing. By contrast, a big tyre chain and a backstreet garage completely b*******d it up. If you want to go it alone, then the best places to go for alignment, are either garages specialising in performance cars and tuning, or insurance-approved accident repair garages (these places do a *ton* of alignment checks as the damage assessment even on minor prangs)

I might be wrong about the left right thing - I've had the dipping off since I got the car because the passenger mirror would just end up pointing at the sky every time I selected "D". It's not a recall, so it won't show up on the recall finder. However, there is a service bulletin about it. BO-0061L-1108-EN_IR.pdf

The mirror dip behaviour depends on the position of the mirror adjust switch. I think you can set it to no dipping (middle position), passenger mirror only (left) or both mirrors (right) - I can't use this because the actuall passenger mirror on mine is faulty. I also think you can program the "dip" position separately to the "normal" position, but selecting reverse and then adjusting the mirror. However, be aware that there is a common problem with the dipping mechanism, and that there is a TSB about this. The mirror positiion sensor on the passenger side wears out prematurely, and the mirror gets lost returning to its "home" position. The mirror mecahnism needs replacement. I've already stripped mine down for the same reason, but I don't think the mechanism is practically repairable.

Do you mean a separate non-lexus fob? If so, it sounds like someone has cut the wires for the built-in central locking and redirected them to the add-on fob box. Maybe the fob battery ran out and someone didn't know how to change the battery - so they changed the car's central locking.

What do you mean that there is a separate fob fitted for the central locking?

What do you mean that there is a separate fob fitted for the central locking?

T10 and T15 take the same fitting, but the T15 has a wider bulb, so a T15 may not fit in a T10 space (like the side lights). However a T10 will fit in a T15 space.

In case anyone is still interested, I think that I have managed to find the formula for the pink coolant. https://www.google.co.uk/patents/US6508951 It is a phosphate containing, nitrate containing, hybrid organic acid coolant, based on sebacic acid and 4-tertbutyl benzoic acid. Most coolant you buy in the UK is phosphate free and nitrate free and uses 2-ethylhexanoic acid. That said, there should not be any major incompatibilities between this and a normal modern "universal" coolant or the toyota red coolant, other than concerns that the EHA can rot plastic and rubber (which is apparently the reason that CCI, the OEM for toyota, decided not to use it)

Those didn't come with my Mahle filters. Just got a filter element and 1 O-ring.