st87

Yeh haha there actually is. You know that perforated metal tube that you skewer your filter onto? It's between that and the filter cap itself. Usually, you shouldn't expect to have to deal with it, assuming you're not clumsy like me and end up ripping the filter off the cap when it off. Eventually, I undid the cap again and reinstalled it. A friend reassured me that although the filter and the sump pan is geographically at the same level, usually there is a pump between the two so it's not like the whole engine's worth of oil is going to come rushing out. I only really lost around 2L worth of oil. Topped it back up, and away I went.

Hey guys, So someone apparently swiped my car and the front fender has a nasty dent on it. The guy also scraped off quite a bit of paint and it's gone to bare metal. Problem is, he did a runner on me and I have no idea how to track the person (pretty sure it happened in the visitor carpark of my in-law's place and there's no CCTV) The insurance on my excess is $2000 (I'm relatively safe with my driving and it's really only in case someone steals my car, totals it, or if I hit someone's ferrari). A brand new replacement fender will set me back less than $200, and with another $100 for paint and clear, which I'm quite comfortable to do already, I think the best option is to approach the task myself. Can anyone point me to instructions on how to remove the fender panel, specifically, the driver's side one? Amazingly, my bumper wasn't deformed, although it will need a good sanding and respray. I found ONE link to a my.is page but the URL seems broken.

Well I'm a bloody idiot today. I've changed my oil and filter at least 3 times to date, with no issues, but today I managed to screw up quite grandly. It started to rain mid way through and so I wasn't exactly 100% in terms of attentiveness. As you do, after draining the oil, you insert the sump plug back in, and replace the filter housing with the new filter and o-rings. Checked. Then, you pour the NEW oil in so that you have a bottle to store the used sump oil. Now that the sump plug is back in, with the filter housing and new filter installed, along with the new oil, I'm left with the empty bottle. I proceed to transfer the dirty sump oil into said bottle. An lo! A spring materializes before my horrified eyes. What had happen is that in my haste, when removing the filter housing, I scraped off the filter and that tube thing that skewers the filter. Somewhere in there, there's a sizeable spring that came off in it and was hidden in the oil. When I retrieved my filter and said skewer object (not sure what the terminology is), I instinctively clipped it back on without remembering that there is supposed to be a spring for it too. Now to my actual question: What is that spring actually for, and what would happen to the operation of the car without it? I consulted the technicians manual and was surprised that it didn't detail that information. The rest of this very detailed manual usually gets down to the exact nuts and bolts of everything.

Really? No one else having this problem?

Hi, so I suckered my MIL to buy a Lexus, and we decided on the CT200h. Everything was a bit different for her coming from a Volvo, but everything was pretty much okay. One thing that was not okay, however, was the voice recognition. She tried for a pretty long time, gave up, and asked me to try it. I did, I tried for a full 10 minutes, and I gave up. Here's what I tried to do. I tried to use the voice recognition system to dial the names of several contacts in her phone book. Supposedly it should work. Unfortunately, it didn't. Repeatedly tried the following commands: I say "Dial Nick" --> Car tries to "Dial 6" I say "Dial Shaun" --> Car tries to "Dial 41" I say "Dial Gloria" --> Car tries to "Dial 431" In some random attempt, it did actually manage to dial Shaun. That was one in around 50 tries. This is actually quite terrible. Is anyone else having the same problem? My english isn't top notch, but I definitely do not have an ethnic accent!!!

Thanks for the help, gurus! Yes, I did follow the schedule to change the automatic fluid (or at least, that's what I paid my mechanic to do specifically… hopefully he did do a proper job). I bought my fuel filter from someone in Melbourne brand new for $35. I'm guessing he probably stumbled on the same problem and decided to not replace it lol. Hey, works out for me! Any precaution on changing this filter? I tend to like learning how to do these things myself. Are there special tools required to disconnect the hoses, and do I need to be worried about fuel leaking or at high pressure? Usually, I'd watch a video first, but as you could probably determine from my original post, I couldn't find such video. :-)

Hi guys, I do remember paying for my fuel filter to be replaced back during the 90K service. My car is now due for another replacement, and I searched the interwebs to see what changing the fuel filter involved. Shockingly, I couldn't find much information, and all I came across were either "you don't need to replace it. ever." to "there IS no filter to replace". Which begs the questions: 1. Why is it on the service shedule, 2. What the heck did I pay for in my 90k service, and 3. What is getting rid of all the gunk between my fuel pump and my injectors??

Hey guys, MIL just picked up her CT200h at Chatswood today. I'm partially to blame for it. Have been quite the advocate for Lexus in the family with my car and all. Anyway, everything is fine, except I had a slightly unpleasant experience at the dealers today. Something that actually made me quite angry, in fact. It's almost 2am, and I'm still quite upset over it, so I need to vent to get this off my chest and hopefully sleep. I don't exactly want to send a formal complaint to Lexus as I don't want the guy losing his job over it, so I'm hoping to just bury this here... So I did not accompany my MIL when she made the purchase or went for the test drive. Everything seemed fine, and from what she and my wife tells me, the service was excellent. Today when picking up the vehicle, there was the usual process of a salesperson inducting you to your car, showing you all the features, and answering whatever question you may have. Now the person assigned is not the person who sold the car. He explains that the original person was off sick that day and he was there as a substitute at late notice - no problems there. He showed many features diligently, however the atmosphere he created wasn't the most pleasant. It felt rushed and I personally detected some impatience. Again, that's no problem. I asked him what the "B" mode for, to which his response was more or less "you don't need to know about it. It just stands for Battery, which your car automatically charges". When asked then why the car has this special mode and a lever specifically selectable to this "B" position to the end user, his response was still evasive. Again, no fuss there - thought I might just ask you guys about it here. So then we were presented with a feedback form, which my wife filled out. She (being the cheeky and upfront person that she is), put down a 9/10 for the first item (which was the quality of the presentation/introduction to the car or whatever), and 10/10 for the rest. 9/10 isn't a bad score. In fact, it is quite good. But what made it not-so-good was this guy taking it personally and kept pushing why we gave them that score. My wife response is simply "well I feel that this is the correct and fair score". So the next 2 minutes was him pressuring my wife to change it to a 10, which he eventually succeeded. I jumped in and said "you know, if you keep pushing, she will probably change it to an 8". Judging by his hostile glare at my remark, I think he did not like that. Without mentioning his impatience, I explained to him that I was unsatisfied with his response on my question. He insisted at that point that the "B" mode doesn't do anything and that the car will automatically set it. I pushed on further to point out that my question was asking what it did and when the user would select it. His response was still "it charges the battery which your car already does" and "the user doesn't need to push that button". Eventually, I explained to him that as a design engineer, I do not make an obviously accessible feature with the intention that the user doesn't touch. I mean, why would you put it there if you don't want the end user having anything to do with it, right? It would be a redundant thing to have, and create unnecessary confusion. Eventually, I just went with something along the lines of "Look, how about I ask it in this way: What the hell happens when I select B? This is what I have been asking time and time again, and all you say is that I don't need to worry about it, which is NOT answering my question! You've basically failed to answer my question and you are trying to palm it off" His response was remarkable, and it was something along the lines of "In that case, I'm sorry. I don't know the answer. This is something that you'll have to ask Lexus." I just lost it in my head. I said very sternly "Excuse me? Where do you think I am right now? I'm at Lexus. You are REPRESENTING LEXUS AT THIS VERY MOMENT and I AM ASKING YOU." Let me get this straight. I'm not asking him to know the product back to front. It's okay not to know everything! I don't know 100% the product I am selling myself either, as I'm not the one who designed every single aspect of the product. It's impossible to know it all sometimes, and that's perfectly OK!! But in that situation, you do NOT sell your customer bull*BLEEP* information. You do NOT try to evade answering their question! You DO offer immediately that you don't know the answer to the question without wasting time trying to pretend you know the question and you DO offer to go and research a suitable answer and get back to the customer! Least to say, you do NOT pressure your customer from filling out a feedback form in an honest manner. Honestly, this one made me want to put down a 5. That's not what "Pursuit of Perfection" means. Although ironically, what he's done is quite the literal form of it. /end rant PS: The business manager was very impressive. Guy's name is Uwe (don't know how to pronounce that), and he demonstrates quite a bit of technical knowledge of the cars quite well. He explained the "B" function (which apparently stood for Brake, not Battery) exceptionally well, and contradicted that first guy quite a bit. I'm glad SOMEONE answered my question. I was pleasantly surprised at the level of knowledge that he displayed, especially for a business manager. I was VERY impressed.

Hi Rossv, That is rather interesting to learn. I thought soot and carbon (which I assume would come from the combustion chamber), besides burning unexpected oil, only occurs on incomplete ignitions such as lean or rich, in which case your O2 and MAF sensors would be there to compensate the amount of mixture... I see why the bull beep alarm now. After what you said about the IS350 having a different DI port design, I would be interested to find out if the IS350s have the same problem with oil sipping like the 250s.

I Rossv, I wouldn't call bullsh*t on that straight away, although I would say that car did probably get very warm - that is, very warm, very quickly. Expanding on the piston rings cracking, one of the explanations I've been told is that there isn't adequate time for the car to warm when you rev it a bit too much (how much is "too much", I cannot say). Something about a too rapid increase in temperature difference in a very short amount of time and making those rings quite brittle... Not sure how other cars fare, but it'd probably be down to the material of the rings, I guess..

Hi, My mirror is just the standard mirror with nothing fancy (not the auto dimming one), and what I have done is I've added a clip-on dash cam/mirror unit (HP f720 if anyone's interested). The problem is that it weighs a bit, and on really hot days, the whole mirror and clip on unit droops when I hit a bump (JUST not enough static friction to keep it in place). Is there any way to tighten the coupling between the stock mirror and ball joint? I saw a video for a 2009 model (with the auto dimming mirror) and looks like you can dismantle the mirror face from the rest of the housing and access a hex bolt, but my stock mirror is different and doesn't look like it could be dismantled the same way. Anyone have any ideas? Much obliged.

I'm not a car guru, but one of the things my uncle has taught me (after a bad 2nd hand car buying experience himself) is to check the tail pipe. Get a tissue and wipe around the inside of both pipes, preferably separate your samples if you can spare the extra tissue. I'd expect the results to be identical, but whatever... What you are looking for is the presence of oil in the midst of the soot. This can indicate cracked piston rings (which is probably what your whirlpool find is about). To get to the piston ring pretty much involves taking a large portion of your engine apart, which is pretty much what you'd only do if you were to rebuild your entire engine (i.e. it's gonna cost. Might as well hunt for another one in a better condition). Again, I'm no expert. Maybe someone here is and will tell you that I just typed nonsense, but that might be one thing to look at while we wait for someone to verify what I said (better be safe than sorry).

Thanks again Jerry, and thank you Lance for pointing out that the difference between the low and the high mark is only 1.5Ltrs. That is quite a critical piece of information that I was missing. I have to say, the difference I saw was quite alarming at first, but what you say would actually bring the consumption MUCH closer together (not sure if mentioned before, but my mechnic fills my car around 5mm above the high mark). I have topped up the oil by another litre and it's quite close to the full mark now after driving to work.

Thanks for the tips, Jerry. On that note... I recently received a reply from a Penrite rep when I asked them the suitability of their "Enviro+ GF-5" oil (it's also a 5w30 full synthetic). He responded with the following: "Do not use any oil from our Enviro+ range: these are mainly low ash oils and are only to be used when called for. The best oil is Racing 10w-40 as it uses the highest categories of base oil in its fomulation. However, HPR5 (SAW 5w-40, full synthetic) would also be a good choice." I thought low ash oils were more ideal to put in your car...?

Hey there, thanks for replying! Terribly sorry! I did mean 115,755km.... My bad. And yes, the 250 also takes 6.x L, including the filter. And I have also verified the Low Oil Level warning on the dip stick and it does sit quite close to the low mark. To explain in detail the time where I was using the Castrol Edge: Back then, that was the time when I relied on my mechanic to do the oil changes as part of the service. I see him on a one year service interval and I give him 10L (if it makes any difference, 2x5L bottles) of Castrol Edge sport. The oil change takes around 6.5L (he goes a bit over the full mark) and I take home the remaining oil. Somewhere like a few months before the next service/year is due, I get a Low Oil Level warning. I then pour the remaining 3.5L of oil as a top up to my car. This will survive until the service is due without giving me another Low Oil Level warning. The last time my mechanic changed my oil for me was at 100,929km on 22/09/12, which was 10 months and 14,826km prior to me changing oil for the first time and using Nulon. (Don't be alarmed.. I still take the car up for service. I just let him know my oil was changed so he needn't bother with the oil.) I'm not sure if my math is logical here, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd say that year, my car survived on a total of 10L of Castrol Edge 5w30 over a span of 14,826km in that 10 month (service booked early) period (and then some, since there was enough oil remaining for it to not complain). As with the deal with me using Nulon... Well they came in 6L packs which I found to be quite convenient. It doesn't exactly go past the full mark. It's close.. but not all the way up, but I would expect that amount to last me at least 6,000km. The reason why the first change (where I couldn't get my filter out) lasted a little longer (4xxx Km) may be because there would be some old oil left over inside, where the second time I actually was able to get the filter out, and so I really was only running 6L of oil, which only lasted around 3,000km in 3 months. I recognize that right now, there is still some oil inside that's allowing my car to run, otherwise I'd imagine to hear some ungodly rattling and screeching somewhere... However, just looking from a very novice POV, I was able to do quite a bit more km using 10L of Castrol Edge in one service interval (10 months back then) than the two oil changes using 12L (combined) Nulon within the 7 month period before I got the warning lights. In hindsight... I'm really comparing apples and oranges here, aren't I? In the case of the Castrol, I am just simply topping up (usually goes all the way back to the high mark), while in the case of nulon, I empty the remaining oil and I replace it with only 6L of oil. But still, we are talking about a difference of twice the milage... Sorry for the extremely tedious post and please do tell me what you think... Also I'm tempted to try out the Penrite Enviro+ GF5. Seems like a much more affordable alternative to Castrol, which costs 50% more. Again, please share your valuable input. :)

Hi folks, Glad there is an existing post about this.. My 07 IS250 just gave me another warning light, so I might change back to Castrol Edge 5w30. I'm not an expert, so please go easy on me. Here is what I found: 20/07/13, 155,755km 115,755km: Oil changed, filter was not changed to Nulon 5w30 full synthetic (first time changing oil. Thought belt type universal oil wrenches would do the trick after draining old oil out). Old oil was Castrol Edge 5w30. Since last oil change: 14,826km, 10 months (NOTE: this was achieved on an oil purchase of 10L, and after filling up the car, the remaining oil was topped up). 21/11/13, 120,598km: Oil and filter changed, again using Nulon 5w30 full synthetic. Since last oil change: 4,843km, 4 months. 08/02/13, 123,689km: Now hunting for oil again. Since last oil change: 3,091km, under 3 months. On average, it seems that Nulon is only giving me around 662km/Lt only, compared to 1,483km/Lt offered by the Castrol. I'm going to try Castrol again, and if I still get that problem, there might be something terribly wrong with my car =(

So I did an oil change myself in mid July 2013, using Nulon 5w30 full synthetic oil. Unfortunately I thought those universal belt type oil wrenches were able to do the job in removing the oil cap. After draining out the old oil, I realised that I was wrong. I was not able to get the filter out. I have since then got myself a proper Toyota filter wrench, but the car has been running the contaminated oil with the old filter. The oil was put in at 115,735km (it was only a 6L pack, but the oil did go all the way to full when testing the dip stick several times). I started getting a warning alarm at 120,333km this weekend, which is just shy of 4 months. The dip stick has confirmed that the oil level is sitting below the minimum mark. Has anyone experienced this problem before? I’m very worried that there might be a very costly problem with my car. :( :( :(

Sorry all for reviving the dead. I am thinking of getting a tow bar on my 250 just to drag some bikes around. Nothing too heavy duty like caravans/trailers. I definitely can't justify getting another car just to drag a couple of push bikes around, so I'm going to go with my 250. My question is, how many of us have actually had their towbar fitted, and what are your comments? I've seen many a Ford Falcon driving around with a tow bar sticking out of their bumper, and the bumper was cut around to accomodate the fitting. It looks terrible I would really prefer to not cut my bumper in any way. Also, being a complete n00b at all this, I would ask what is the purpose of buying a genuine lexus towbar (and for a ridiculous price too)? For a 5-year old car with expired warranty, would I be better off not going genuine and save a lot more money? Thanks guys!

Hi folks, Not too sure how I could have rephrased the topic without sounding bizzare as it is, but here goes I have a 25W solar panel and a spare MPPT charging controller that I want to make use of in my car. the 25W panel fits miraculously well right underneath the moonroof. With some fiddling around, I did manage to slide the panel in with the glass tilted up and rested it on that ... thing (the thing you manually slide open and close to expose the roof inside the car, for the lack of a more appropriate terminology). The cells appear to be sitting well within where (at least SOME) light goes, so I figures on a reasonably sunny day, I would have at least around half the power going into the cells. What I need to know is how safe I can play around with my car without popping out an airbag or two. I need to find a way to feed a thin(ish) wire from the moonroof down towards the chassis (i.e. where all the other wires are hidden along the door frames, along with an existing wire I routed from the engine to my small 8AH deep cycle battery). The panel shall ideally charge the secondary battery, which is there so I can power a Waeco fridge without draining the crank battery (also because it will kill the cranking battery by deep cycling it). If I'm doing this, then I will be feeding the wire on the passenger side. I'm tempted to try one of the following: 1. feed a wire through the piller supporting the windshield, since this is probably the easiest place I can just probe around with using a straightened coathanger. The fact that there is an "SRS Airbag" symbol etched on the fabric there is making me think twice, or 2. find a path through the middle piller (i.e. where the front passenger seatbelts come out from). Has anyone done something crazy like this and could give me some advice? Thanks! P.S: Sorry for the long post!

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, out of all three options, the Bendix is the cheapest. By a 'bit worse', would you say that it is really noticable during normal driving (my regular driving usually won't go over 100km/hr)? Has anyone tried EBCs and could shed some light? :)

Hi guys, I'm sure my car is soon to be due for some new brakes, and so I have been doing some research about aftermarket ones available (the oem ones seem to be quite costly and generate a LOT of brake dust and squeal). I have been searching around on google and this forum, and I get the idea that I should look at DBA T2 slotted disc rotors, and that EBC and Bendix CTs are quite reputable brake pads. My question though is whether anyone has tried the Bendix General CTs, EBC Greenstuff and EBC Redstuff and could give me an idea of how each product compares. I'm really hoping that they will output noticably less dust than the OEM ones, but I guess squealing is more of a priority for me. I could live with cleaning my wheels once per week compared to the whole world hearing me when I'm stopping my car. Also, ebay would pretty much have the best prices for these things, right? Thanks guys!

I got mine from eBay. They are genuine denso plugs which only set me back for around $90AUD delivered (see following link): http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/6PC-Genuine-DENSO-Spark-Plug-Set-Iridium-Long-Life-OEM-for-GS350-IS250-IS350-/160794989281?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item257020d2e1&_uhb=1 You get the 6 you need and not the higher price tag which you can do without! Edit: That said, has anyone made a DIY for spark plug changes? I've been wanting to try it myself but have been told taking the exhaust manifold off will mean needing to put a new gasket on the damn thing which kinda turned me off...

Thank you Danny for your generous organ donation XD

You carry spares?? o.O

Hi everyone, Several weeks back, I made a fabulous juicy rack of ribs slow roasted to perfection with the meat falling off the bone to the extent that I couldn't even lift it out of its roasting pan to cut it up. Fast forward back to a few days ago, I only just realized that the oily greesy sauce has slipped its way out of the roasting tray and had seeped through the massive layer of protective newspaper and cardboard box and onto the carpet lined walls of my boot >.< It took me a long time to notice it as there was no smell coming out of it, since it has completely caked up onto those areas. I first noticed it when I couldn't pull out an old catalogue sitting on top of the RHS plastic panel (yep.. the one housing the mark levinson amp!!). Fortunately, none of the sauce has managed to seem over to the amp, and I have since cleaned away the sauce from the metal parts of the body wherever I can find. But the wall linings I really could not manage to fix up. Anyone ever had a similar experience before and know of a good solution? I also notice that the walls are segmented in several parts and are simply stapled together. Fortunately, the sauce has only infested one panel, which is the rear right hand side one (the one covering the tail lights). Would anyone know the cost of replacing this panel? Thanks guys!