mattyt1991

Yeah it is quite steep but to be fair the dealer has given me a very good price on my Honda Civic, nearly a straight swap and this Ct200h has been treated very well, been to Lexus dealer every year without fail, not a mark on the interior. I have overpaid but to be honest I am ok with it.

So I cocked up a little when I bought my current 2017 Honda Civic 1.8 petrol manual a year ago, it is a good car but just not that comfy and I miss the auto box way more than I thought I would. I had a Lexus IS250 before the Honda and loved it but it was a tad thirsty... Used car prices are crazy so not a good time to buy but I have an itch. Not looking to add much money on top of selling the Honda so old or high mileage. There is a local Ct200h in premier SE-L spec with ML audio on for 13k, which is a hell of a lot for an 11 year old car but is actually ok in today's market. No right or wrong answer but looking for some wisdom on a) the car and b) is an older battery likely to be ok if the mileage is low?

Hi guys, My IS250 is getting a service from an independent mechanic today. I asked him to grease the caliper slides as is often advised here and he has found a couple of issues. Front brakes need 4 new claiper slides plus the boots for them. Rear brakes need 4 boots for the calipers. I have had a look on the Lexus parts website but there seems to be a lot of options that I am not sure how to make sense of it. From the description I have given you, any idea what I need to order? Also is Lexus parts just the best place to order from - parts don't seem too expensive.

How much does this cost? Is it an easy job to DIY?

It was a full change, 7.9L of Toyota WS ATF Ended up costing £205. I got the price a bit wrong before, it would have been £360 for the full change plus filter. In an ideal world I would have changed the filter too but given the corrosion and potential for other things to brake during the job I think I am happy with what I have had done.

Oil exchanged today. All seems to be shifting smoothly, whew! Whether or not it was a waste of money... guess I will never know. I feel a bit happier now that there is new oil in it. No surprise seeing as the oil is 12 years old but quite a big difference: @Mr Vladi am sorry they didn’t know any good places that far up country!

I definitely get that and usually the way I think as well. But seeing as there is some corrosion down there the worse thing would be if they take the exhaust down to get where they need to and then something breaks due to rust when they do that. Plus I paid £3k for this car and it is shifting just fine right now. The transmission guy has actually advised I spend less and just do the oil change. It’s what he does on most BMWs and Land Rovers he services without issue.

Well in this case it is because the bolts and holding the pan on are very corroded and will likely snap. So to do the filter will mean more labour, and need to buy bolts and gaskets from Lexus. Difference is £180 vs £440. Is there no benefit from doing the oil change on its own then?

So the price to drop the pan and do the filter is now just a bit high, and I am worried about other corroded bits braking. Plan at the moment is just to exchange the fluid without dropping the pan and changing the filter. My question is, would the oil change without the filter change still be worth doing? After all Lexus wouldn’t advise changing the filter at all.

Bit of an update. Couldn't get the job done today as when they looked at the pan the bracket and bolts are very corroded and the bloke doing the work thought he might snap things trying to get them off and then not be able to put everything back. So he is ordering bolts and gasket before he attempts the job. Will put the price up a bit but pretty sure I am still going to go for it. Does make me worry a little about what else might be very corroded...

Haha well you might want to wait to see how good a job is done first but yeah sure I will ask.

It is going to be costing £300, that includes a new transmission filter from Lexus, and using proper Toyota WS ATF. I realise this is a bit steep maybe but I bought the car with a budget in mind for things I wanted to do and so I have budgeted for it. Lexus price for an oil and filter change was £440 but I do not think they would be changing all the oil, just replacing what falls out on a drain, I think, don’t know for sure. The guy who is doing it has said basically it is more like a fluid exchange than a flush, new fluid goes in as the old stuff leaves. Like for like. I am getting it done on Monday, so will let you guys know the results. There is pretty much not a problem with shifting at the moment apart from perhaps it is a bit notchy when cold and a bit slow to respond. Getting it done as a bit of prevention and for my own peace of mind really... I know it is a lot money for that but whatever floats your boat eh?!

The saga goes on. Basically even within this forum there are loads of people saying, don't change, change, never flush, I flushed and it was great... So I have spoken to Devon Gearbox Centre who come well reviewed and spoken to the owner a few times. He recommends a flush and complete oil change of the transmission. He said issues can occur when using cheap machines to flush with but they use a £3000 machine rather than a £300 one (am I being incredibly gullible?!). He says they have flushed thousands of "sealed" transmissions with no issue (although admits not done a lot of Lexus transmissions). He is going to use a genuine lexus filter and the recommended fluid. Not entirely sure why I am posting this as I think I am just going to go for it. To put my mind at ease I would love to hear from people that have had transmissions flushed and it has been fine! For reference the car is a IS250 from 2008 with 86,000 miles on it. It has no issues with shifting at the moment at all. I think I will be fine... but I am nervous! I will certainly report back with the results... jeeezz P.S. please don't advise unless based on actual experience! The internet is full of that!

I guess you could make sure that they had expensive jobs done like spark plug change at 6 years/60,000 miles.

So I have watched some videos of doing the ATF change and it looks like most garages should be able to do it I guess. But it is obvious that the fluid needs to be drained 3 or 4 times to get mostly new oil in the transmission. Is this something Lexus would do if I took it to them or would they just drain once, hence just replacing about a quarter of the fluid. Really just can’t decide if I should just leave it and take my chances or get this done! also could someone please tell me what the difference between an oil change and flush is?

I can see myself paying over the odds for Lexus to change the ATF and filter to be honest... I don't want to but I guess there is just no way you can be sure an indy is going to follow procedure and it seems like it can cause major issues if not done perfectly...

What a minefield! Some say do it so prolong life, others say don't do it unless you are prepared to pay for a new transmission!

So as per the other thread I recently started I have just bought a 2008 IS250 with 86000 miles, FSH. All is running well with it at the moment. I would like to keep the car for about 3-5 years I think (I estimate around 4-6k miles a year) and I am really struggling to figure out what I should and shouldn't do to it to try and keep those miles as trouble free as possible. Things I have been advised to consider changing - water pump, ATF, spark plugs (last done at 43k), aux belt (last done at 53k), coolant change and lubricating the brake calipers. Here is the quote from Lexus: Thank you for your enquiry, please find our prices below. Major Service £375 Water pump & Auxiliary belt £620.22 Auto transmission oil change £175.29 ( oil change only ) Auto transmission Oil & filter change £444.52 Strip, clean & lubricate brake Calipers £288 My questions if anyone would be so kind to lend me their thoughts and experiences: 1. If I got the oil changed should I also get the filter changed? Big price difference! 2. I am also quite near the Devon Gearbox Centre - I have no experience with them but they seem to be well reviewed. Any particular instructions I should give them if I go with them? Can I leave them to use what fluid they advise or insist on a certain fluid? 3. Should I even change the ATF at all? Based on the mileage I will be doing? Have people had good luck in taking the "sealed for life" transmission at its word for over 100k miles? 4. That caliper price is insane right? 5. If I just put the reg number into autodoc.com and pick a water pump, should I just be able to use an indy for that job right? 6. For some weird reason the manual says that after 6 years the aux belt should be changed yearly or every 10k miles. Mine was done 30k miles ago. No-one is changing the belt every year are they? It doesn't need to be changed with the water pump does it? 7. How much should a change of coolant cost? Again should just be able to buy some coolant from autodoc and give it to a mechanic? Sorry for all the questions, I'm new to this stuff but keen/anxious to learn! I suppose this is the issue with buying an older car and not really having the setup/experience/knowledge to do work yourself. I really like the car and am the sort of guy that would like to have it well looked after. Any help really appreciated! Cheers, Matt

Congrats! It looks like an awesome car.

Hi guys, Recently just bought a 2008 IS250 and love it, I would like to look after it well. It has, so far been serviced every year. All Lexus until 2014 and then an independent. The main things that have been done so far are: - spark plugs in 2015 at 43k - the invoice says aux belt, is that the same as ancillary belt? (Sorry, bordering on clueless...) was changed at 58K The car is currently on 86200 and driving nicely. So I was going to get the spark plugs done again at around 100k, would it be a good idea to change the water pump and belt at this time (is this belt different to the belt that has already been changed?)? The manual also says that the ancillary belt needs to be changed every year/10k miles after the 60k change, this seems a bit much no? Do people stick to that? The other question I have is, is it worth getting the transmission oil changed, I know it is “sealed for life” but I guess that depends on your definition of life. If I get it changed, I have been reading that it needs to be done with quite specific oil and carefully. Best to let Lexus main dealer do it or could any mechanic do it? Really chuffed with this car so want to look after it but not very experienced! Any advice appreciated! Also any recommendations of mechanics etc in Devon would be great! Thanks.

Thanks for the tips so far guys. So getting someone to reliably grease the callipers could be an issue then. What would be the signs if one started seizing?

Due to needing to drive around in my wife's first ever car (2007 Toyota Aygo), I was soon searching on autotrader for something that wasn't a tiny tin box (albeit a reliable one!). I thought I was going to go for a proper 5 pot Volvo diesel (quite enjoy the other car we have, Volvo V40, with the Ford 1.6 diesel) but then this little beauty came up. Viewed it, drove it, and threw my £3k at the old owner as quickly as I could, I did probably rush into it a little as I am very impatient! Volvo and Lexus might be slightly left field choices for a 29 year old but I am delighted and looking forward to learning more about the brand. It is the automatic 2.5L V6 and has 86000 miles on the clock, I think it is just the SE spec, but still seems to have plenty of toys. I am already planning my route to a 2015/16 IS250 with Mark Levinson audio system. I am just loving how smooth that engine is, fast enough for me as well. Car history looks like - 1996 Ford Ka, Honda Civic 2005 1.7 diesel, Ford Fiesta 2006 1.4 petrol, and then the two mentioned above. This just seems in another league. Seems to have been looked after well with FSH. The previous owner has put in the F Sport air intake and air filter I believe. I have a fairly rudimentary knowledge of maintaining cars to be honest and I don't have a driveway and need to park the car on the street (which is on a hill) so unlikely to be able to do much maintenance myself. Although any thoughts on what I could do myself would be appreciated, and any good resources for info on maintaining the car? It seems to run like a dream at the moment but it is a 12 year old car, I would appreciate any tips on things to look out for in looking after it. I plan to probably keep it for around 3 years if it is reliable enough and then maybe get a newer version. Obviously plan on servicing it every year, I have read that the brake calipers should be greased yearly (is that going to cost a lot at a garage?) and that the water pump might go around this mileage (is it best to just let that happen or get it changed before it breaks? Again any idea of cost?) Thanks for any advice given!