Had The Car Less Than A Week... Almost Cooked The Engine!

[IS 200 enough?]

Hi guys,

All week I had been hanging out to head down to my friend Luke's place show off the car to him, and get a few maintenance jobs done. It turned into a bit of a nightmare, but it wasn't the cars fault. No, no, no. You see normally when I go to Supercheap Auto ahead of an oil change I buy Ryco oil filters, I have never had an issue with a Ryco filter before and they cost a couple of dollars more than a Supercheap one. Because I've never had issues with them I always buy them, simple right?

However last week for whatever reason I had a massive brain fart and decided that I would try a Supercheap filter. The box said it was compatible with the same numbered Ryco one that was recommended for the IS200 with the 1G-FE engine so I thought 'hey it's a few dollars cheaper why not give it a shot! They wouldn't be selling it if it didn't work right?' Well boy, was I ever wrong!

We spent all afternoon slaving over the car, changed the ball joints, discs and brake pads (which I was going to take photos of and do a write up on but the nasty flu my wife had last week caught up with me. I was lucky enough I could keep my eyes open while underneath the car).

Then came the 'easy' part, I say easy because it doesn't take a rocket scientist to change the oil in a car right? I mean you could probably teach a five year old to do it blindfolded as long as you gave him an air gun to undo the sump plug (yes it would be messy but this creates a somewhat satisfying image in my mind). As I discovered for the 1G-FE you need hands as small as a five year old to undo the stupid damn oil filter that a 'kind' Japanese engineer sitting at a nice clean desk (who probably never changed an oil filter in his life) decided would fit nicely underneath the inlet manifold - completely inaccessible by any normal person with hands larger than said five year old.

By some miraculous contorting of my arms in ways and angles I didn't know they could move or bend I managed to get the old filter out OK, and then put the new one on without cross threading it (yes somehow I managed to stay awake too).

I made sure I tightened the sump plug and then topped up the oil, so far so good.

Fortunately my friend was outside watching the car when I was about to leave, the brakes felt spongy so when he started yelling "stop, stop, stop the car!" I thought it was brake fluid and we must've accidentally ruptured something. "Turn it off!"

I turned it off pretty quickly and found that most of the new oil that I had put in my engine was now streaming down his nice clean driveway... "Uh-oh!"

Friend climbs under the car, I crank the engine, oil spurting out from where? Can't be? The SCA oil filter... Took the SCA filter off and put the old one back on, topped up the oil. Started the car, no leaks! Memo to self, never buy another @#$%@$% SCA oil filter again!

The box says they'll either replace it or give me a refund if I'm not satisfied, guess which one I'll be taking.

Aside from that new pads, discs and suspension mounts feel great, cars off for a wheel alignment this afternoon. Now I've just got one more issue to fix...

[GGPIS300]

Welcome to the 1IS family, they ALL are a bitch to change the oil filter.

[IS 200 enough?]

You'd think they would've learned from the dozens of other cars they designed before this one though, right? I guess people make decisions behind the scenes for all kinds of illogical reasons.

[GGPIS300]

I was surprised to hear the 1G-FE was that difficult - I know the 2JZ (IS300) is a PITA in both RHD and LHD form, but that wasn't totally unexpected given the shoehorning that occurred to fit the engine in the engine bay.

Like you, I came from a Corolla and that was dead easy to change (4A-FE).

I even went to the trouble of ordering a "special" oil wrench from my local Toyota dealership (Yarra Valley Toyota), but they never bothered to let me know if/when it arrived. This is a dealership that doesn't even know how to screw a sump plug on correctly...

..

[IS 200 enough?]

Yeah well I wasn't even expecting to have to jack the car right up to do an oil change, in the Corolla you just slid the oil pan under, undid sump bolt and the filter you could get to easy from reaching down into the engine bay (might start changing the oil every 15kms now instead of 10 :D ).

All good its a new learning curve, and apart from that (and a random hesitation issue I'm getting in first gear) it's a great car.

Re the sump plug: Damn, that's why I always do my own oil changes. The story above was the first fail I've ever had.

Your comment reminds me of a story a friend of mine told me a few years ago, his boss had bought a brand new SS Commodore and at the first service someone forgot to fill it with oil once they'd emptied it... It was never the same again, even after they rebuilt the engine twice and in the end they had to put a new one in, rather reluctantly. I dare say someone got fired for that mistake.

[GGPIS300]

Random hesitation, have a read of this thread (my IS300 is the same) : http://my.is/forums/f88/mod-throttle-cable-spacer-245517/

The main issues I have with the 1IS are niggling - the boot that falls on your head (due to Toyota's policy of using the thinnest gauge steel possible to save a dollar), the PITA fresh/recirculating button that ALWAYS changes back to recirculating when you get in the car, etc. But the styling is timeless, the size is compact without being small, the handling is arguably the best Lexus has produced to date outside of the LF-A...

[IS 200 enough?]

Thanks for the link, definitely a worthwhile mod but I think my issue is a little bit different.

If I put my foot anywhere from half down to hard on the gas taking off then it revs a little bit and starts to move before hesitating at about 2.5k rpm for a second or two like it's choking (not getting enough air or something, definitely not a misfire, no popping or anything like that) then it shoots up and starts to take off. Also ACIS doesn't seem to kick at all in first gear (not sure if this is normal or not). It only kicks in when it reaches second gear at about 5k rpm (I'm told by some posts I've seen that you should get the kick around the 4k mark?) and then there have been a few times where it hasn't done it at all on WOT.

No CEL comes up and it drives fine otherwise.

I'm with you on the styling and the handling! The Corolla was a boat compared to this thing, had a lot of fun on the weekend throwing it round corners at steadily increasing speeds... :D
I'm uploading a video to youtube of the issue, I'll post the link here when I'm done.

[IS 200 enough?]

Here's the link -

- Also as you can see in the video it changes up early first to second at about 5.5k rpm.

I'll try the throttle cable mod and see if that makes a difference, also been recommended to clean VVTi solenoid and MAP sensor which I'll give a shot when I've got some spare time and the car's at home (I have a company car so the wife gets to drive it during the week).

[coconut2001]

I can't recall the number of times i've swore at the oil filter on the is200!