ChumpusRex

Just a heads up to you guys with this type of knock-off cable. In addition to the pir8 software on the cable's internal microprocessor, the cables also use a popular USB control chip. However, this USB control chip is widely faked. The manufacturer of this particular chip, a company called FTDI, recently released a new driver that would detect fake chips and destroy them. This Tuesday's windows update from microsoft includes the latest FTDI driver with the "kill package". If you plug your cable into a computer with this new driver, the cable may be destroyed. The photo below shows a typical knock-off VCI cable. The FTDI FT232RL chip is shown. However, FTDI laser engrave their logo onto their chips. This logo is printed, indicating a fake chip, likely to be destroyed by the new driver.

I don't think lexus list the wheel paint colours in their technical documentation. Even where they do (e.g. the IS-F wheels) the code is not a conventional colour code, and cannot be used to match. You may have to take it somewhere where they can match the colour manually (or by computer) - or just have all 4 done in a similar, but not matched colour. You could try asking the dealer, but you won't be the first who has tried, and the first who has been told "we don't know".

Is this basically the same recall for the same fault that was in the 2006-2007 IS 250? I'm guessing that the supplier of the master cylinder has found that more of their cylinders were affected than first though?

The engine light started flashing on my way to work today. After about 200 yards, I got a check VSC message as well. Car was running perfectly fine without any problems. However, the light kept flashing continuously for the next mile or so until I was able to pull over. Shut off the engine and restarted it and the light was gone. I've had the car techstreamed and there was nothing. No codes. No data captures. No "miles driven with malfunction light" registered. Misfire counts all at zero. Any ideas?

The difference is that for the IS250 there haven't been any reported problems other than the noise. On the IS350, although the problem is the same, the rattling also causes a 2nd problem, which is to cause the bolt mounting the adjuster to the cam to lose its torque and come loose, causing the cam to disconnect from the timing chain and demolish the engine. The reason for the recall is that when the engine is demolished it will stall, potentially increasing the risk of a collision.

The IS series washer jets hit between 10 cm and 40 cm from the bottom of the windscreen when measured in the middle of the screen (not the side jets). The washer jets are not adjustable. However, jets with different aims are available from Lexus. 85381-30110 is the "normal" direction jet. 85381-3013 is the "high" pointing jet 85381-30150 is the "very high" pointing jet 85381-30140 is the "low" pointing jet" 85381-30160 is the "very low" pointing jet

You should be able to, but I can't on mine. I only get the air con settings. The light settings don't work. I just get an error in the techstream software. It might be that the settings available on the car vary from year to year and location to location.

High beams are easier than the low beams. I put some 9011 bulbs in - much better than the HB3 bulbs which are the normal fit. You have to file off a flange on the bulb to get it to fit into the HB3 socket, but the cut line is helpfully marked on the bulb. I had to import them from the US via amazon. Expensive, but I had some amazon US vouchers which needed to be used.

Deflectors are only needed if you have a beam pattern that goes up towards the left. The HID headlamps on the IS have an almost flat beam (there is a tiny step up towards the left), but nothing like the 15 degree up-slope of "old-style" UK headlights. This type of flat beam pattern is very unlikely to dazzle oncoming drivers and does not need beam deflectors. If you look at the MOT tester instructions you can see the different beam patterns. http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_180.htm The traditional british pattern is type E, whereas the HID headlamps have the British American pattern (bottom pattern on the page, with a small step but no "kick up").

I'd go with no. 1

There is a lot of mumbo jumbo, but there are lots of different formulations; not all are compatible with each other or with all cars. Very briefly coolant consists of 2 components: 1. Antifreeze 2. Corrosion protectors 1. Antifreeze is provided by ethylene glycol in almost all coolants. Alternative antifreezes include propylene glycol and glycerine. PG is more expensive but is non-toxic. EG is lethally toxic and tastes like maple syrup, so children and animals like to drink it, so some manufacturers add flavourings to it to make it taste nasty. The most recent one is glycerine, which is cheap as it is a waste product of biodiesel production and is non-toxic, so some manufacturers now use glycerine for their antifreeze. Any antifreeze compromises the cooling capability of the water. EG has the best cooling capability. PG and glycerine are less good, but in general, unless you are racing, or have an engine that is stressed to the limit (like the new ford 1.0 125 bhp ecoboost), you shouldn't have any trouble. 2. Corrosion inhibitors are much more important, because there are lots of incompatibilities, and some manufcaturers like to keep their formulations a trade secret, so won't list the inhibitors in the ingredients. In general there are 3 main classes of corrosion inhibitor: A - Inorganic inhibitors - These are used in the "traditional" UK blue or green coolants, and almost always a silicate compound, but some formulations also use borates, molybdates, nitrites, and phosphates. The problem with silicates is that they are unstable and tend to degrade quickly, so the coolant needs replacing after 2 years or so. Silicates work well on aluminium and iron. B - Organic acid inhibitors - These are used as "long life" coolants. These degrade much slower than silicates. However, there are many different acids in use. The most popular one is ethyl-hexanoic acid. However, EHA is a solvent and as a softener for plastics and rubbers. A number of manufacturers noticed an increase in head gasket failures and water pump failures after the switch to this formulation. Toyota recognised this and used a different acid (benzoic acid) for their red coolant. Benzoic acid works, but isn't very good and it offers no protection for iron, brass, or for soldered joints - so at the time Toyota introduced red, they redesigned their engines and cooling systems to use pure aluminium only with no soldering and no brass. Pretty much every aftermarket long-life coolant you can get in the UK is of this class, and contains EHA, although some contains EHA and some less-solventlike acids. C - The new formulations are "hybrid" inhibitors - a combination of A and B. Most hybrids use silicates as the inorganic component and EHA as the organic component. However, the Japanese manufacturers use phosphate as inorganic and sebacic acid as organic. The problem with phosphate is that it is incompatible with silicates and with hard water; it is deactivated by both, and can form a sludge. So, if you mix toyota pink with a silicate hybrid or a "classic" coolant, you could be in trouble. However, the pink and red are fully compatible. Similarly, both pink and red are fully compatible with "universal" coolants (which are organic coolants with no silicate or phosphate). The other issue is that if you use a generic coolant, you will get EHA. The manufacturers that have used EHA for years, have by now redesigned their gaskets, seals and hoses to be resistant to it. However, as Toyota have never used it, there is no guarantee that their gaskets/hoses/etc. are compatible.

Just found out that Mazda now use a coolant with pretty much an identical formulation to Toyota pink, they call it "FL22 gold" - it's made by CCI which is the same OEM that makes the Toyota coolant. The only difference is that it's about £15 for 5 litres, instead of £40 for 5 litres, and that it's got a green dye in, rather than pink. http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/coolant-premixed-fl22-longlife-ltrs-mazda-only-p-1594.html Like Toyota Pink it's only available pre-mixed. This Japanese formula is deactivated by hard water, so the manufacturer only offers it in pre-mixed form (to prevent complaints due to mixing with hard water).

I think this might be to do with the coolant being too old. I think lexus recommend 10 years or 100k for the first coolant change. I suspect this is too long. I've got 150k miles and the water pump looks fine, but it's had the coolant changed every 3 years or so. I'd expect that leaving coolant for 10 years, you're going to get little bits of grit and stuff from corrosion building up; and if any little grain of grit gets stuck on the water pump seal, it can damage it. I've got 10 litres of toyota pink in for the next coolant change, which I'll do slightly early. But I think after that, the pink is too expensive, and I'll switch to something else; maybe prestone universal.

I'm pretty sure that Aisin is the OEM for lexus water pumps.

Toyota require a unique coolant formulation. Most "generic" coolants in the UK are designed to match a formulation used by GM, and this formulation is pretty similar to formulas used by German and French manufacturers. Japanese manufacturers use a completely different formula; the only way to get this Japanese formula is to buy the genuine article. Whether this makes any real difference is anyone's guess. The main reason for the unique Toyota formulation is because their engineers were worried that the European formulation could corrode water pump seals. That said, the main reason for damaged water pump seals is usually crud in the cooling system scratching the seals or getting stuck in them. The European formulations have the advantage that they are better metal corrosion protectors, they are also a ton cheaper.

Are you sure they fit on a 250? I think the hub attachment is different on the 250,so the caliper sticks out and will foul 17" wheels.

The service manual says they need changing. I didn't change mine, despite what I said earlier, because I didn't have them, and didn't really know what I was doing. The issue is that if you damage the gaskets when taking the manifold off, then you've got a problem if you don't have spares. They're not expensive, I think something like £5 a set from a dealer.

Additional tips: Get a surge tank gasket set (3 sets of 17176-31050) and a throttle body gasket and do the them at the same time. Don't use a ball allen for the cap head screws. I snapped a ball off down a long tunnel, but the ball got trapped because it deformed the screw head. I ended up having to epoxy a slightly too small socket to the bolt. The best tool is a 1/4" socket set with hex bits and a 15 cm extension bar - this works perfectly. If the spark plugs don't turn completely smoothly on the way out, send a rag on a stick down the spark plug hole to clean up the threads. You don't want to be tightening a plug into a carboned up thread. I couldn't get the behind throttle body bolt back in at all. The manifold is pretty solid, and there are plenty of bolts in, so I didn't try too hard as the bolt is pretty much superfluous and it'll make the job easier next time. In case you lose any bolts, remember that ISO M8x20mm bolts have a 13 mm head, but Japanese 8mm bolts have a 12 mm head - same bolt size, but different spanner. I lost one on the under tray, I did search for it and try to get it with a magnet, but couldn't find it. Worth also having some spare M6x30mm zinc cap head screws in case you damage or lose one.

I put some flat blades on, because the actual wipers had rusted. The problem with the "flat" ones is that they can't conform to the shape of the windscreen - the glass is too curved, so only the centre of the blades actually wipes - edges of the blades hang in the air and don't actually touch the glass. Either get the traditional old style, or hybrid style blades - or use the OEM ones.

It will be tight on the front, but should fit. Also remember that you will need xl tyres; the IS is heavy and exceeds the weight limit for 235/35/19 tyres unless they are reinforced. Check that the tyres' load rating is 89 or higher.

Yeah. The battery indicator is just a hydrometer - measures the strength of the acid, by how high a coloured piece of plastic floats in it. It works OK, apart from the fact that there is only 1 indicator, but there are 6 cells in the battery - if any 1 of them is faulty, then the battery won't work. The indicator works fine for flat/charged for a working battery, but it is useless for detection of a malfunctioning battery.

The ECU selects a lower alternator voltage when full charging voltage (14.5 V) is not needed.

All petrol these days is ultra-low sulphur, so it shouldn't make much difference. It happens with both tesco unleaded and shell v-power. The cats remove carbon monoxide, unburned fuel and oxides of nitrogen. If sulphur dioxide is present in the exhaust gas, then the cats may convert it to hydrogen sulphide (rotten eggs) under certain conditions. Conceivably, it could be over fuelling (and this would encourage the cats to produce hydrogen sulphide, which can be formed if there is sulphur in the exhaust gas and there is unburned fuel present), but fuel trims and stuff all look pretty nice, so I think the O2 sensors are in reasonable condition. We'll see what happens at the next oil change, when I'll try to get my usual C2 oil in.

Only reason I put it in, was because after I took it for service, the rattle was about 1 million times worse. Terrible sound for about 10 seconds every start. The garage (an independent) said they put 5W30 in, which is what I normally use, but I didn't have any oil to hand, so just asked them to use theirs. I wonder if they put the wrong oil in, maybe a 0W20 or something. So, it was either pay £60 for another oil change or take a chance on a can of additive. I just chose the MOA because it sounded good. So, in it went, and total silence after that. Possibly the smell is also sulphur in the oil, which might be the case if they used cheap oil. I normally use a low-sulphur synthetic "C2" oil, and never noticed the smell before.

The oil is clear and looks as expected for about 5000 miles on it. A tiny bit is being used, maybe about 1/2 litre in 5000 miles. Since the MOA went in, the engine is silent.