Linas.P

Compared to general NA 2L petrol, yes hybrid definitely has more torque, but at no point would hybrid torque be higher than RC-F. The only other thing is that I guess RC-F suspension set-up may be slightly more sophisticated, angles little bit better and there would be less issues with uneven wear. Overall, RC isn't particularly bad on tyres, but they are known (same as IS mk2 and mk3) to wear inner edges of tyres little bit more. So it is possible, that one could have 3mm left across the tyre, but inner edge could be worn to threads. But it isn't massive issue overall, when tyre is close to 3mm, it needs to be replaced anyway.

There are none, lexusownersclub.co.uk have some stuff, but you can see the prices yourself. Same for dealership, you can order most parts, but prices are high. I have some stuff left over after I sold the car so you can drop me a message if interested.

Ok... So the status update so far - low pressure side work, high pressure side works (I think), ignition works, there is spark, spark plugs little bit dirty but dry (gap seems a bit large, so certainly due for replacement), cylinders just slightly damp or it may be just carbon build-up, but nothing unexpected (certainly not flooded). I was able to get car running for like 5s, by just putting ~5ml of petrol directly into cylinders. Got some black smoke from tail pipe as expected (running rich on cold engine). So what am I left with in terms of theories: - injectors drivers - fuel pressure sensor (meant to check it yesterday, but it requires 5V to be applied to 1&3, before checking voltage between 2&3, which is a bit tricky). - ground to some of the components intermittent - it could still be either of the pumps, I mean I confirmed they work and measure correctly, but I can't check the actual pressure, although my guess is that they would provide enough fuel to start, just maybe not enough to idle nicely + I would get VSC and code for low pressure, whereas currently I get nothing.

It doesn't hurt to have spare power when you don't need it, but it definitely hurts when you need it and don't have it. To my surprise the most "natural" car I have driven and most relaxing was LC500, despite it being 5L V8 with nearly 500hp - but maybe that is my expectation for acceptable performance... It is confident inspiring, it is plenty fast enough even at 10% of throttle and it is quiet, yet sounds good just cruising. This is true Luxury - when you satisfied with car performance without needing to rag it and sadly IS250 does not provide that. That does not make it "slow", but it isn't "effortlessly fast" either. I guess it is probably knowing yourself - if one can't live without revving very single last RPM of everything. I think it goes back to point that this is highly personal thing and no car can be just generally boxed into definition of "fast or slow", especially such "middle of the pack" cars like IS250.

To be fair any car on larger wheels and lower profile tyres will suffer from this regardless of the make. Sure enough the tyre grooves design and compound can make a difference, but that is just physics. And I know 17" 45 profile tyre does not sounds massive nowadays, but that is because all cars have ridiculously large wheels. I remember Dunlop Sportmaxx RTs were particularly noticeable on IS250, because they have 3 massive ribs going across all circumference of the tyre - actually excellent tyre, but crabbing was definitely an issue for them. To my surprise I don't remember this on Michelin PS4s, despite being even lower profile and noticeably harder compound, although it used to feel to me like the tyre from cold did not have as good grip as Dunlop and I generally could not drive hard enough on my regular commute to bring it up-to temp - so maybe it was just sliding. Didn't remember this issue on RC, but to be fair I haven't driven it much, especially on colder days and my cars sits in garage, so although not warm it still stays good 2-5C above temperature outside and on top of that, the way I park it does not require me to steer when stationary when leaving. Sorry if it sounds obvious, but the only way to fix this without changing the tyres is not to steer car when stationary (and that is generally better for all components involved in steering).

Still struggling to find any issue, but at the same time getting overwhelmed with test results. although fuel "supply" pump checked out and the relay checked out, but I am getting results way different than expected from integration relay and harness. Option 1: my cheap multi-meter is just no good 2: I have issue with ground (which would be very interesting issue), or 3: (and most likely) I am idiot who can't measure it correctly. Still didn't manage to measure high pressure pump, because even after removing intake I still can't get probe onto connector. Although pump resister checks out. Who knows... Ohh an clearly there was somebody with 2 left legs instead of hands under the bonnet, common signs of missing blots, broken clips and scratches on intake manifold - that is my "favourite" thing on used cars. I am kind of tempted to remove intake manifold and get borescope into cylinders and see what's is down there... but apart of suggestion that engine may be flooded (which I doubt) I won't see much in there. Engine turns freely and it was running, so it is not like it have blown the piston whilst parked. Apart of that ordered myself a cable for Techstream which I hope will make more sense than manually cheeking connections i.e. in Techstream I could initiate fuel pump initialisation and just rig the bottle on the line and see if there is fuel flow (more ideally gauge, but bottle will do for now). As well I need do devise the plan how to drain fuel, because I can't get to the actual pump assembly with full tank. To be honest I hate diagnosing modern cars (says the guy who bought non-runner Lexus from auction) and it is so bizarre that it run and suddenly stopped... Anyway story will continue for some time I am sure.

Petrol is free indeed, but car prices in US are much higher than in U, and even Europe. Say 2006 Lexus IS costs ~8000-10000 USD in US (7500GBP), ~3000GBP in UK or ~6000EUR (5000GBP) in Europe. So the purchase price is not the saving, however there is other aspect - total cost of ownership, insurance alone in UK could easily be £2000 a year, especially for younger person, fuel is expensive... so what is goo that you can get car for £3000, when you have to pay £4500 every year on running cost. Whereas in US they pay £7500 and spend money basically only on fuel and whatever little maintenance it needs. In Europe it kind of depends - there are countries with £90 insurance per year, there are other with more expensive insurance (probably still nowhere near as expensive as UK), then there are countries like Ireland where both insurance and as well road tax are very expensive, and there are countries without road tax and cheap insurance - so it really depends where you are in Europe. And I guess all that combined dictates the prices - the more expensive are the running cost the quicker the cars depreciate, where expenses on running older car are not high, the cars keeps value for longer.

But ... didn't Lexus intended to wider the demographics with IS250 i.e. exactly brake the rule that only older people drives it and attract younger buyers with sportier cars? I know that they said that for a fact when launched IS-F, LF-A and F-Sport brand... but wasn't the IS the beginning? As there is something fundamentally wrong with this statement - how can you say if car is fast or slow, if such thing can't be defined?! I tried to define this previously based on factual stats applicable to this segment and I just got a lot of people in mk3 forum royally ****, because people can't accept facts they don't agree with. My logic was that as entry luxury car IS300h could defined as fast or as slow based on average speed of other entry luxury cars models available to buy. Yes sure - you can argue it is arbitrary definition and it is, but any definition will be arbitrary in this case. I mean feel free to find your own definition, but at least at the moment you can't argue car isn't slow and other people can't argue it isn't fast unless they at least define how they got to this conclusion. Based on my definition it is slow - BMW 3-Series ranges averages 7.8s and MB C-Class 7.7s... so Lexus IS is at least "slower". The silver lining in this case is that healthy IS250 could do 0-60 in 7.5s any day and V6 sounds way better than competition. If it would be truly 8.2s then I guess my opinion would be different. As I said I didn't find it particularly fast even my first one back in 2012, but it wasn't offensively slow like another Lexus which I won't mention because we have very sensitive member in another forum. Here I would point out as well, that UK is strange country - IS is considered large "luxo barge" here, whereas everywhere else it is considered small-entry level luxury car. In US cars like Lexus IS or BMW 3-Series is considered something that teenagers drive to college perhaps as their first car, in UK it is considered as something established businessman drives to the meeting, because our cars are just way way smaller on average. And I don't speak about US only, even in Europe cars are way bigger or at least there is no stigma and no artificial barriers to own more powerful car.

Small progress today. Got to the fuel pump in tank - did not removed it yet, because I know it would result in major fuel spill, considering it is full. In either case checked the pump with multi-meter and it checks out. Unplugged fuel line in the engine bay and it was full of fuel, then disconnected the line at the tank and let it drain as much as it does naturally and the line on engine side was dry. Reconnected everything, turned on ignition and could hear fuel pump priming in the tank, checked fuel line at the engine side again and it was full again. Sure it would be ideal to blow it with compressed air just to make sure, but low pressure side doesn't seems to be blocked. Obviously, this does not prove fuel pump provides sufficient pressure and I can't test it because I don't have right gauge, but it provides enough fuel for the car to at least start. Just for good measure I tried cranking the car again after disconnecting everything, but me fiddling with low pressure fuel delivery side and getting petrol in my face dozen times has not changed car's mood. Next step will be to try to diagnose high pressure side. As well looking at throttle body it was full of black sludge (probably blow back from PCV), so it seems to me it would be good idea to get the "snake nest" off and clean it + inspect what in going on inside.

Not much of the update so far, tried checking if there is fuel pressure, but found fuel hoses to be quite stiff and fragile to the point where I was afraid to crack them and thus I didn't proceed any further. Lexus Roadside assistance option didn't work out as I forgotten car has to be road legal and by extent have valid MOT for cover to work. As it happened in my case, MOT has run out whilst the car was in auction and my plan was to get it done together with the service. Either way no MOT, no Lexus roadside assistance cover, which is fair enough. I started by removing all the plastics in the engine bay and just checking connectors for everything to see if anything obvious is out of place. As I didn't have much luck with fuel hoses under the bonnet, my next check ill be to check fuel pump side in the tank, maybe it is less perished there and I can at least test fuel pump and rule out that problem. Obviously, looking at how the soft fuel lines looks in the engine bay I would not be surprised that this may causes issues and by itself could be fire hazard, so once car is running I guess I need to see the prices and availability for replacement hoses.

In the add it is Xedos 9. Apparently, Mazda had plans to create Luxury department (Amani) same as Lexus is for Toyota and Xedos 6 and 9 mean to be Amani 500 and 800 respectively, Amani 1000 was as well planned. Xedos 6 was BMW 3 competitor, so sort of Lexus IS equivalent, before Lexus IS existed. As far as I can remember Xedos 6 was way more luxurious than equivalent Mazda 626, so it just makes sense that it was meant to be Luxury car. Sadly, Mazda failed to market it properly and the whole thing failed by early 2000s. I always wanted Xedos 6 as well, but never really managed to get one. The V6 in it was 2L, so not the same as 2.25L Miller cycle engine. The closest I got to Xedos was 2L V6 Xedos engine swap into Mazda MX3 which I had at 16 years old. It was direct swap and more than doubled the power of the car which originally came with 1.3 and 1.6L (mine was 1.3, because B1 license conditions).

You can't see them working on car in Lexus either, although some dealers provide video of car inspection. That said I guess Lexus is trustworthy enough not to worry about any dodgy business. Regarding Lexus Essential care - it is technically been discontinued, but I was able to book it for my IS250 yesterday, so you can still get it done at dealers discretion, just need to ask politely 🙂 5W30 A5, is the right oil for your car and indeed car hold 6.3L total and 5.9 without filter.

Only Xedos 9 and single unit - 2.25L Supercharged V6 KJ-ZEM, strange that Mazda didn't continue with that engine, because it sounds great on paper. I wonder what were the issues.

You welcome, My experience with Halfords is basically that they are fraud and they have no clue what they are doing. Now granted not every centre is the same and I can't speak for all, but I have used 4 different ones in London and always had appalling experience. How much was their interim service there? Are you aware that you can get Lexus Essential care Minor (interim) service for £185? Maybe little bit more expensive than Halfords but definitely worth it. So they said they put "right amount" of some non-brand oil of unknown spec... from my experience that doesn't mean they did it. I would not be surprised if they haven't even changed the filter and didn't let the old oil to properly drain. In my experience again - they tend to overfill oil more often, than they do underfill, because they simply don't know how to properly measure the level (that is the level of mechanics we talking about). I know maintaining the service history on 12 years old car with 100k miles adds no value, but I just found Lexus service in itself best value for money. The only thing I would not recommend with them is changing any major parts, outside of the service package their hourly rate is astronomical and parts themselves are often expensive. So what I tend to do is to take my car to Lexus mid-year for standard service (filters, oils that sort of stuff), they give me full list of items which needs to be addressed and I just say "thank you" and don't pay any of that. Then before MOT, I order the parts myself and what I can change myself I do it, what I can't or could not be bothered to do, I take it to local garage and literally point the finger and tell them what they need to change + standard oil change. This way I don't pay Lexus labour rate and I have full confidence that my car is fully serviced and always passes mot without advisories. Doing oil change every 3k miles may be overkill, you kind of need to monitor the situation and see if it is actually required. I would rather put good oil every 6k miles, than cheap oil every 3k miles, but it all depends on the circumstances. Note as well that 3k/6k mile services would aid in protecting the car from wear... but once your car engine is already worn, you can do oil service every 100 miles it still won't matter. Now I don't know if that is the case, but if your car burns so much oil then the only way of addressing it would be changing piston rings (major engine work in general) and more frequent oil change won't help it. So what I would do - I would do the oil change properly now, I would make sure personally that right amount of oil was in the engine after service, that filter was changed and that oil looks clear, and then I monitor that oil after every other fuel refill. By the way - on Lexus the proper process to check the oil is rather strange, on most cars you need to check oil level when cold, but on Lexus you need to check the oil level when engine is at working temperature. This presents an issue - when engine is running, it will always show oil level as low, because oil is scattered across the engine. So to check the level properly you need to get engine up to temperature, then switch it off for like 15-20 min for oil to drain down to the sump and then check the level.

As above, in my experience ceramic coatings (even proper ones), do not prevent scratching, maybe reduces swirling a little bit. But again that really assumes proper washing on the car, with prewash, proper an clean mitts etc. If you detail the car and then just take it to automatic car wash or corner hand wash (which in some cases can be far worse than automatic wash) then it is just waste of time, it would be just as scratched as without coating and the coating itself will fail within 3 or 6 months (depends how often you scratch the car). Ceramic coatings are not magic - if you get the car dirty often and then just wash it with garden hose and dirty rag, then no coating will help. I said that if I would ever buy new car, get it detailed etc. then I would apply full body clear film. That is the only and ultimate protection if you want to protect the actual pain from serious scratches and stone chips.

If my car would consume 2L of oil in 1360 miles I would be concerned as well, that doesn't sound reasonable at all. Do you have any history with the car, how it was maintained etc? As well, have you done oil change yourself, do you know what oil it was, do you know if right amount was put in? Because the most likely cause is either wrong oil was there or the oil was missing from the beginning, because I can't see how 2L of oil could be burnt in such a short period. Especially without noticeable blue smoke etc. Now for reference - my old IS250 was 192k miles and it used to burn ~0.6L over 10k miles (Castrol Magnatec 5W30 or Toyota/Lexus dealership special). Meaning that I can go from one oil change pretty much without adding any oil, or maybe adding small bottle of 0.5L after 5k miles. I did have another issue - which was sticking valve lifters and solution for it was more frequent oil changes and engine flush - so I was doing oil change every 6k miles anyway, so oil burn was non issue. What you need to consider as well is that 10k miles isn't really ideal mileage for service - it is designed for fleet managers and to artificially reducing servicing costs, by making long servicing intervals. Actually, it is considered "extended service" interval and there are certain conditions you need to meet to do it e.g. car should not be doing any type of driving which is considered "high load". What is considered high load? Driving on motorway for extended periods of time (in excess of 60MPH), driving in traffic for extended periods of time, idling for extended periods of time i.e. exactly what we doing all day long every day. So our cars actually don't qualify for "extended service intervals" and 10k miles service is not normal. Actually, people who car about longevity of the cars do oil change every 6k or even every 3k miles. In miles it looks weird, but in kilometres it is every 10k/5k kilometres and that is most of Europeans are doing. Anyway, that out of the way - your oil burn does not seem normal, as it is already burning too much oil I would not recommend flush either. One thing I have noticed myself in single instance where I have used 0w40 Mobil One Long-Life oil (I have specific use case) was that car didn't burn any oil in 10k miles and oil was still relatively clean, whereas Magnatec would be very dirty (it is kind of bad and good at the same time). Anyway- so one potential solution for oil burn is using thicker oil, at least in it is "warm" rating i.e. Xw40. This will reduce engine efficiency a little bit and there were other factors to consider - so you could only proceed at your own risk and I do not recommend it. It worked great for me and for what I needed, but this is not suitable for everyone as solution.

I guess that is very privileged situation to be in i.e. to be able to have dedicated car for each purpose - I agree this is best way, because every car is compromise, so to have the best car for each situation requires having multiple cars. However, I would say majority of people don't have such privilege, so once car has to do everything and that is why I understand why people want reasonable comfortable, yet reasonably sporty and fast car. Fun fact every manufacturer markets every car like that, but in reality they not good at anything.

Mazda once made engine with miller cycle. The 2GR-FSE (IS350) got option to switch to Atkinson-cycle when cruising as part of update in 2013. 19MPG is for mk2 (2005-2012) and I believe mk3 claims 24MPG, but there are amurican gallons (23 to 29 UK MPGs). In UK we only got IS200t (kind of replacement for IS250) and believe me - it had way way worse MPG and yet still way slower than IS350.

Sorry to see it and sorry I am late to the thread So... first thing - if it is non-fault, then DON'T go thought you insurance company, because they will be vague and you will have to pay excess upfront, and it will take 6, 12, 18 months to get it back and whilst your car is fixed you get some rust box Aygo to drive around (unless you paid for upgrade). Instead go for claims management company. If they are convinced it was non-fault they will "pre-approve" your claim, meaning that you will get brand new rental car equivalent to what you had (that would be like BMW 5-series/ MB E-Class), they will do damage estimate and you will be able to negotiate it. In my case I had dash cam and it simplified things a lot! But if case is fairly clear cut, other party agrees it was non-fault, your insurance company and TP insurance accepts it was non-fault, then even without dashcam you could get away. This puts you in way more advantaged negotiating position - you driving brand new car which costs TP insurance like £200 a day and they are "on the clock" to agree whatever price you agree with your claims management company, because in 10 days they burn £2000 just in your rental car. So if question is £500 they just accept it right away. You don't need to pay excess at all, and whole shebang is solved in 1-2 months. Instead when you go through the insurance company they will be in advantaged positions - they know you have your excess locked, they know you in poor car and time is against you, so they will offer bottom of the barrel price and pressure you into accepting it. Obviously, you can hold out, but that delays whole process and prolongs suffering being in sub-standard hire car. In the end of the day, whenever car will be S, N or B-cat depends on your negotiation, if you insist for it to be fixed, they will eventually agree to fix it (if it is at all reasonable), if you insist on pay out and write-off they may even class car as breaker for scrap. I have bought back my old IS250... so they put value on it £3850 and salvage value of £541. Meaning that I kept the car for £541 + compensation of £3309... and then sold the car for £2700, because it was in excellent shape and damage was literally scratch on the bumper. But that was because I went through claim management company - I would have hardly managed to get £3000 from insurance directly. The issue may arise if fault is not clear and generally claim management companies won't take such cases. As well it would be fair to note - they are a bit dodgy, so you may get call 6 months later asking if you want to claim for injuries for that accident. As well you MUST always agree everything in writing, never accept any terms over the phone. But as long as you find FCA approved one, they should be working within industry standards. No I understand it was couple of weeks and you may have already started the claim with your insurance company, but you have a right to stop it and take your claim elsewhere. However, if you have already paid excess and got hire car, then it may be difficult to reverse it, but you can try to speak with your insurance or those claim management companies as they may be able to advise better if you still could change who is managing your claim.

Tried that - sometimes when engine struggles to stay on idle it helps... but in my case I don't get to idle at all. Flooding - unlikely with DI. Well... unless leaking injector, but I would expect it to run rich at most. It is not like on carbs where you can hydro lock the engine. If it would be easy to do I would check spark plugs, but it is major **** pain on IS250. I could try to disconnect it, can't see how that would hurt, but can't see how disconnecting the battery would help. Resets ECU maybe. I mean perhaps good idea in desperation. The noise is quite conclusively high pressure pump which sits at the back of the engine. When you say water related, do you mean after washing? I didn't was engine bay so not sure why it would be. I have OBD reader and there were some codes present anyway, but nothing which would prevent car from starting as per original post. When car failed to start I have cleared the codes and there are no codes now - I believe because engine doesn't start and ECU can't finish the start-up check, so don't get to the point of reporting P0031, which I would expect to reappear as soon as car starts.

You won't be able to fit just any 18Inch wheels on RC200t... because it uses same brakes as RC350 (large callipers), so you need wheels which accommodate the callipers. As well, you can't put spacers on the front because that will change your scrub angle, what you need are the wheels with correct offsets and shaped to accommodate callipers. Generally, speaking - look for the wheels which were available on IS350 in US and those should fit. Rear wheels won't be an issue - any Lexus wheels would fit (except of CT). What Lexus wheels have your purchased - obviously easiest option is just to put the on and see if they clear the calliper? 18" mk3 IS F-Sport wheels should fit, as well old and ugly (in my opinion) IS mk2 "Sport" wheels should be OK and the GS450h wheels should be ok. If that is of any help I have both 2020 RC wheels (19") and Mk3 IS F-Sport wheels (18"), which I may be able to sell. (F-Sport wheels needs refurbishing and I don't know when I can get them sorted, but RC wheels are like new).

This is absolutely the best way to get BT connection in older IS250, for under £40 this amazing value and does exactly who needed, without overcomplicating things like GROM - no more no less.

You probably meant - All DSG models 😄 And it would not say "problems", but DSG is just inherently more complex, requires more maintenance and that maintenance is more costly... so naturally when the car has 100k miles on it the DSG will be one big problem, unless somebody has continuously maintained it to high standards which is costly. On other hand Aisin A960e in IS250 is pretty much bulletproof and don't need anything done with it for hundreds of thousands of miles. So I am with you on this one. I think here you need to accept that they have same right to have their opinion as you have to have yours - that you own IS250 and you think it is fast enough that does not give you right to force everyone to think the same. You annoying yourself won't make any difference and they will continue to call the car slow. It was advertised as sporty car, so argument is not unfounded, granted BMW is more sporty and at the same time it indeed comes with rock hard run-flats which are just awful. I had 2010 E90 328Xi and replacing the tyres was the very first thing on my list. Again I am kind of with you on this one, I had BMW 3-Series, I had MB C-Class (C350 Avantgarde) and all things considered Lexus IS250 was very comparable in all aspects. BMW was certainly more sporty, steering more sharp, C-Class more comfortable, but had awful built quality and Lexus was great balance between the two - sporty enough, comfortable enough, not fast, but way better built and reliable then other 2. If people want to make it sportier by fitting different suspension, then who is there to stop them to do whatever they like with their cars? If I had a choice between IS250 and IS350 I would definitely take IS350 any day. And here is another angle - I think in UK we have more right to say IS250 is slow, because we never had a choice, whereas amuricans don't have right to say that in my opinion, because if they don't like IS250 then it is their fault - they could have gone for IS300 or IS350 instead.

Yes I was a bit cheeky and to my surprise they said yes! It is officially discontinued, but as I understand it is down to individual dealership discretion to offer it. I spoken with Jemca (Edgeware Road) and Hills Group (Woodford and Hainaut) - both were able to offer it, although I got impressions Jemca subcontracts it. Hills Groups seems to do it themselves - the guy on the phones was like "please give me your reg and and will see if I get an option to book it as Essential..." and indeed there was still option to do that. In either case you get Lexus stamp in the book and same old good prices (£185 for minor is steal, although £375 for major is probably not as good, depending on service needed I may go with Lexus normal service as it include little bit more items).

Actually, I probably should have mentioned that - but I guess I have good alternative. I have Lexus Roadside Assistance (still valid since I got it with RC), so in theory I can just call them in and let them figure out what is going on. Maybe they are not as good as Lexus, but certainly better than qualified idiot like me. On top of that it would be totally free and if they can't figure it out, then they can take it to the Lexus for diagnostics with free deliver/return + courtesy car 🤯 I would still have to pay Lexus diagnostics in this case as car is not warranted, but free service takes me quite long way!