Ains

so i took the car in and had a diagnostic run and it came up with... nothing. a few months passed, problem never reoccurred, but - the other morning the manual 'M' light flashed a few times (didn't count, sorry) whilst the car was in normal drive mode. didnt seem to impact the transmission at all but i guess its trying to tell me something. a couple of other times whilst in manual mode and shifted into 5 the 'M' flashes and won't allow to change into 4, 3, 2 etc. Need to move gear nob into D then back to 'M' and its all normal again. This has happened maybe three times on different days during drives when Im in M but not using the paddle shift... the plot thickens any ideas or similar experiences? any wisdom to share out there on this?

this might help give you a guide - got mine done in akld, nz @ 100k km and it was ~$1300 as needed a new water pump as well as belts. On top of that had the transmission flushed and serviced. total cost ~NZ$1700 ouch. when i looked into the cambelt some mechanics systems said it wasnt due until 150k km but others said 100k km. i ended up taking the low risk option of 100k km.

Hi there Do you know a site where the fault codes for the altezza beams engine (or similar) can be found? I had a ECT PWR light flashing, also the 'M' in the manual mode flashing - but it disappeared after the engine was restarted - trying to figure out how serious this is... Any help would be appreciated, Ainsley

i think that www.fast4s.co.nz in auckland have a couple of turbo'd altezzas in stock... they did when i was there a couple of weeks back - they were aftermarket conversions.

Im not too sure, sorry

OK I got it sorted so thought I'd put the info up in case anyone else needs help with this. It turns out that the top of the console form just below the centre air vents up to behind the felt tray all pulls out from the clips. To remove Hold the felt tray/air vents with your fingers on the air vents and pull toward the back of the car firmly, the clips will release the the vents and felt pad will come away. Note this part comes out not upwards but straight backwards. Once this part is removed there are obvious mounting bolts to remove the remaining parts. Removing the stereo was nothing to do with popping out the felt pad as I have seen mentioned, as the felt pad is screwed into the console. Hope this helps B) !

There were a couple of people with posts on the uk lexus owners club that had detailed their turbo installs onto the IS200 on the forum... have a look there. Seemed to work ok but was pretty complex and took a while. check out this dude 'marcus' http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/index.php?automodule=gallery&req=si&img=866 also this one http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=25701

Speaking regards 1998-200 models - the RS200 is much nicer than the IS200 to drive with the added power. I think the Z model has a body kit - which you may or may not prefer. For doing skids you're going to want the manual, but I'm really happy with the triptronic. To be honest I don't use the gears too much except for decelerating on twisty turns. The 'power effect' seems to be a nice addition to the auto mode driving giving noticeably better acceleration whilst still very smooth. When I drove a manual RS200 I found it jerky and pretty much same performance so it was a no-brainer to get triptronic for me as I'm not into burnouts any more. The Japanese ICE & nav etc doesn't work that I've seen, unless you know something that I don't. Hope this helps B)

I've been trying to replace the after-market head unit in my 1999 Altezza RS200. The one in the car is a baseline Panasonic model - it ok - but I'm pretty keen to fit the decent mp3 Pioneer unit that I have on hand already . Looking at the different dash configurations mine has a felt tray above the a/c system and and already has an audioleads http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=11933&hl=audioleads+stereo facia in place (check out the link for pics of the fascia). Looking at http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=46731&hl=grom+ipod post by hando it looks straight forward but I just cant get the audioleads fascia to come free in any way. I have tried gently lifting the felt tray and cant see any way to remove it, trying each of the methods in http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=2160&hl=remove++dash++tray post. The previous installer (in NZ, prob the car dealer) has installed an after-market stereo without the metal mounting sleeve that usually quick-releases out a stereo. The stereo is screwed into the audioleads fascia, so without removing the audioleads fascia I'm not going to make any progress. I need to remove the stereo and audioleads fascia in one piece, then swap the stereos in the fascia before re-installing the fascia. Has anyone had experience with taking out the audioleads fascia with this type of dash configuration or have any further tips on taking out the felt pad as I'm guessing this is the crucial part of the problem. Any help would be appreciated! I've been offered an install for $70 which I guess I can do, but seeing as I have all the parts and someone much have done this before I'm keen as for a tip as to how I can get this sorted myself.