Gaugster

The passive entry system uses a lot of power when active. So a poorly designed system will allow the battery to be depleted. However as I mention, most system now can disable themselves to concerve power and therefore not affect the vehicle battery. The original post from skins08IS350 did not mention any battery trouble as all of the other electronics seems to work fine.

Yes, that is correct. It is common for owners and dealerships to leave the fob in the vehicle for demo purposes. But the system can be disabled if it is idle for a long time and/or the fob is in the wrong place. This is needed to reduce the drain on the vehicles battery as well as the key fob. It needs to be woken up but pressing any one of the input buttons. Still curious to get some feedback from the original poster.

Smooth1, that is totally cool. Does anyone have any pictures of IS300's pulling the front wheel when launching? It's a short wheel base car from what I can tell. Some boots and trans brake and that thing is 'leaving on the bumper'! (At least until the half-shafts fall out.) Just is little holiday cheer. You are going to spend a lot of money and single-handedly keep the American economy out of a recession. Thank you.

One Question. Did you leave the key in the car when you went into your friend’s house and then return to the vehicle a couple of hours later? If you leave the key inside the interior and try to lock the car it will freak out and make a bunch of beeping noise etc... However, if you leave the key fob inside the vehicle for an extended period of time (with or with out locking) it will be disabled in order to conserve the battery life as well as prevent the ability to bypass the vehicle immobilizer for aftermarket remote start systems etc…. The fob would become active again only once a button was pushed on the fob itself. Regards,

I have been thinking about reversing the shifting logic of the sport shifter in my IS250. That is, making it up shift the gears when you pull back on the level and down shift when pushed forward. It just seems more natural to me. Not a big fan of the paddle shifters yet. There is a DIY thread on some of the other lists about this change. It is just a matter of switching out a couple of wires. However, I would also like to modify the PRNDL display around the shifter consol so that the “+” and “-“ signs are reversed to match. I like to mod stuff but I want it to be a complete modification as much as possible. Has anyone seen an aftermarket PRNDL insert that has the “+” and “-“ signs reversed? (Fat Chance! ) How much would an OEM replacement cost? It might be easy to modify the original but I want it to look as original as possible. Regards,

Sorry to learn about your troubles. I think the owner's manual mentions something about disabling the traction control when the car gets immobilized in snow. This allows the wheels to spin so you can dig your way out. This is a technique that I am sure you are familiar with from your Mustang days. You have a 2007 so you can disable the traction control with a single button touch. This will avoid the traction control applying the brakes and bogging the car down. I can’t claim that I it will work 100% as I roll an IS250 with AWD but I seem to remember other IS350s with similar issues. Chicago is going to get another half-foot or so of snow this weekend so maybe you can try my suggestion up in MN. Unless of course you have already tried it without success? Regards,

I understand your question. Many people are trying to get DVD with MP3's to work. I have suggested that people try to author the DVD as a DVD-AUDIO disc with MP3 files instead of the typical DVD-VIDEO disc. I do not have any knowledge about the DVD burning softwares so I do not know if it would make a difference. Your thinking is similar to mine. Burn the files onto a DVD in another format MPEG2, PPCM etc... and see if it will work. No one has put all the pieces of this puzzle together. I have many DVD-R movies but I have not tried them in the ML system. I guess I should try that first to confirm if a DVD-R(W) will work at all.

I am working on buying a new block, head, tranny and rearend. I plan on building the motor from the ground up, all forged and bomb proof. Then do a full swap. When I do that, I will be planning on going over 800 hp. And still be able to get the groceries in it. Of course, if I go to the track with that, I'm sure they'll tech me right away. But maybe I can still sneak atleast 1 run and get a good time slip first. LOL!!!! Are you planning to stay with an automatic transmission? I am just wondering what your preference is now that you have been-there and done-that. My brother-in-law's is an automatic so I am wondering if it would be better to look for a manual transmission car from the get-go. To be honest, I would be doing this type of work in my home garage without the lifts etc... So engine and tranny swaps are a bit out of my league for the foreseeable future. I guess either powertrain will need to be upgraded when the HP is doubled or more. Maybe it is just personal preference. Regards,

Smooth1, I drifted over to the IS300 forum today and read through your saga. I gotta say I am totally inspired by your build and your continued progress. I am hoping that the aftermarket will make similar power adders for the IS250 & IS350 one day. My brother-in-law has a 2002 IS300. I am toying with the idea of buying his car and turning it into a performance project. This would save my IS250 AWD from the trial and error process. It is just a day dream for now though. I myself am all about the underdog story. There is nothing cooler then the pony out running the horse. When are you gonna install the roll-cage, parachute and fire extinguisher? Regards,

webjeff, Glad to know that everyone worked out for you. I was out in the snow on saturday night too with the AWD and snow tires. Needless to say - I had a lot of fun testing out the limits of the car. It is a great pleasure to drive on snow tires. Regards,

Studs are cool. Reminds me of a James Bond movie. But they are banned in many parts of the country. The is especially true in urban and suburban areas. They chew up the road surface. Typcally tire chains and studs are used in rural heavy snow areas where the state does not plow or maintain the roads. In this case any type of AWD sedan doesn't have a chance as the snow would be up and over to the bummers.

Bredeman Lexus in Glenview. I don't remember the size of tire they are putting on. They also said it's a one time charge, so I should be able to walk in there come spring and have my tires put back on free I think ?? Just need to pay for new tires if these go bad. Even if I order from Tirerack though, that's just the tires & wheels & sensors, fine and dandy, but I don't know how to put tires on, so I'd have to go somewhere for that. It just seems easier if they do it and store my old ones. Seems convenient even if it is a little pricey. I'm only concered with how much better traction I will get and if I will be able to commute to work (SAFELY) driving slow, but not tons slower than traffic, to get to work and back. Jeff. Yes, I can see your point. I am a gear head that loves working on cars and researching this type of stuff to death. Going through the dealer is the most convenient because they will store the unused set of wheels. From what I remember, they will switch the wheels on & off per season for free after the initial purchase. I would confirm it in writing though. As stated before - The difference will be Night and Day. Do Not hesitate if the money doesn't concern you. Once you get snow tires, your only problem will be over confidence because your traction will be so much better. So be cool. Also remember that you will be able to stop more quickly then most other cars. So if you make a panic stop, there is a good chance that the car behind you won't be able to stop as quickly. You alway have to watch out for the other drivers. Regards,

Everything that I have read suggests that doing all four wheels is a must. This is especially true for modern cars with stability control etc... Also you need good tires on the rear to accelerate but you also need good tires on the front to slow down in bad conditions. EDIT I saw "rwheels" in you post and though you meant just rear wheels. Maybe this was a mistake. You can go a -1 on your rim sizes typically. My car came stock with 17's so I don't have any experience with the lexus 18".

I talked with the tire specialists at Lexus and they said I'm getting the Nokian brand. He claims it's better for the IS 350 since it's a lighter car and says the Blizzaks are good, but they are for heavier cars and says I should get the best tire for the car (I agree). Any of you agree? The $2300 is for new tires, rims, and storage of my old tires till summer, its a one time charge, then I can go in and out in fall and spring or whenever. Jeff. I checked out a CR from November of 2006 (kind of old). They rated the Blizzak LM-25 and the Nokian WR All Weather Plus almost the same performance. The blizzak had a slight advantage but i doubt that it would be noticable in a real world application. Since I am in the suburbs of Chicago, what dealer are you working with? Also for "joeb427" - The dealers around here do the winter packages with aftermarket rims not factory Lexus wheels. It still a rip-off though. Regards,

$2300 sounds like the Lexus dealer price for complete wheels as well as storage of your summer wheels. You can save at least 1000 bucks if you purchased from any other place but you have to store your own wheels. Lexus will charge full dealer price for the TPM sensors etc... so you get hosed really good. Any snow tire should do well but Blizzaks are hard to beat. I chose Dunlops Sport 3D's based on a great deal of research. Make sure the tire you get has the snowflake / mountain icon on the tire sidewall. I spent about 1400 for 4 snow tires with TPM sensors and aftermarket 17" rims. This includes shipping and ~$50 to have the TPM sensor ID's programmed by a Toyota dealer. Lexus wanted about 140 for the same service. Go Figure?????? There are even lower cost setups too. The traction button you refer to defaults to the "ON" setting. You disable it when you push the button! This may explain some of your problems. Read the FM before you do something you will really regret.:chairshot:

I have BridgeStone Turanza ER33. Are these all-season tires? Yes, it appears that those are summer tires. Therefore they are going to be poor performers in the winter. For years I have driven rear wheel drive cars in Chicago winters but mostly they were not high performance cars with wide tires. Now I have an AWD car with snow tires and drive in the snow with a grin. ConsummerReports.ORG and TireRack.com are two very good resources for winter tire applications. There are many options to choose from. Basically you can just have your tires replaced so that you will keep using your stock wheels and TPM sensors. Another option is to by a new set of wheels with new sensors etc… This will cost more. Some snow tires have a low speed rating like 80MPH which normally isn’t a problem but the tire will feel different when driving on dry winter days. Do as much homework as you can before pulling the trigger on snow tires or a new car. Regards,

The EU model has an interior motion sensor, so it sacrifices the sunglasses stowage by the roof lights to hold the electronics for it. Not sure what Gaugster means by a 'rear external fog lamp' as I've never seen one on a EU model 250. <_< Many cars in the EU have a button in the dash to light an extra rear tail light brighter so that it can be more visible from the rear in bad weather. I do not know if the IS250 has this feature in the EU and I did not mean to imply that is did. The first post made reference to this feature and I just stated that the US models don't have it. Regards,

There is another way some cars detect low tire pressure. My Sienna minivan has 'indirect' TPMS. It doesn't use any pressure sensors in the wheels. It watches the rotational speed of each wheel. If pressure is low in one wheel, the circumference would be a little lower, and the wheel would have to spin faster than the other wheels. Luckily I haven't had a flat, so I don't know if it really says which tire is low. If the car uses this method, it can tell which wheel location is low. If it uses pressure sensors, it will have no idea where the wheel with low pressure is installed due to the fact that you might rotate your tires as Manolo1 stated. The indirect method has one problem. The wheel speed sensors from the ABS system are used as inputs to the TPM system. However a relative measurement is used to determine if one tire has a lower pressure than the others. So if all of the wheels slowly lose air over time, the system has a hard time detecting this condition. However, this system is almost free to implement on a newer car with ABS. A lot of cars have this system because the NHTSA gave the OEM’s a short timeline to make TPMS a standard safety feature. But I think the eventually extended the deadline. A similar thing is going on for stability control. Some systems can learn which active sensor is located at a specific wheel position. Basically a trigger antenna is mounted in each wheel well. The wheel sensor is then triggered to send pressure data when it is requested to do so. This is the highest cost system that gets around the problem you mentioned with maintaining your tires correctly. Regards,

Yes, I can see your point but all of the TPM systems are intended for lazy people that don't care about the air pressure in there tires. They won't typically check until they are forced to do so. It doesn't matter if it is convenient or not. Reporting the exact pressure to the drive can sometime have the opposite effect. In a situation where the tire is just below the warning pressure threshold for instance, the air pressure will increase as the wheel warms up from use. Drivers could use this to ignore the warning. The sensors have the ability to compensate for temperature before triggering a warning but it depends on how each system is implemented. There are so many ways for drivers to use or misuse the TPM information. Sometimes less is more but each to there own.

Hello, There are some differences between the EU version and the US version. The EU versions have side markers for the front turn signals but the US versions don't The US version does not have a rear external fog lamp. I am not too sure what you mean by the "E" letters on the headlamp. I do not think there is a E or a CE mark on the US models. The EU version has plastic covers on the bottom of the vehicle to reduce high speed drag and wind noise. I am sure there are many more small differences. These are the ones I can think of right now. Regards,

Chrysler has had individual pressure readings on there vehicles as well. Basically this represents two approaches for the automaker. The Toyota system only reports that "a" tire is low. This will force the user to check all of the tires for correct pressure. This is a better method and a more conservative system with regard to safety. I would guess that Toyota wants to try to make sure that all of the tires are checked periodically and keep people from being lazy. The other systems that report individual tire pressure may seem impressive but they also allow the user to only check the pressure of the suspect tire. This makes it possible to not check the other tires which could also be getting low but have not yet triggered a warning. This type of system is more complex and generally less reliable. Both systems work well but usually only report an error when a tire is way low. The hope is to avoid nuisance warnings etc… It is just the Automaker’s mindset that determines how they want the electronics to interface with the human user. It’s a HMI thing. Regards,

Is your car an automatic or manual transmission? Don't know if it makes a difference but I am looking for a trend. Is there anything in the air that would cause damage to the radiator? Any large juicy bugs or things of that nature. Sorry but the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Australia is the Outback. Forgive my ignorance. I am just thinking of possible reasons why the grill would be different based on location or vehicle options. Regards,

mjmo, There are a few black boxes coming out of Japan that override the Lexus navigations. There are also some that allow for external video inputs etc… I have acquired the override controller from the company below for my IS250. I could not purchase it directly but I have a buddy in Japan that picked it up for me. https://secure02.blue.shared-server.net/www...r/app_tvnv.html (Japanese Only Text - Sorry) There are some other ones but I don’t know if they are good or bad. The R-Spec model can be purchased via a group buy from ClubLexus.com. There are some good write-ups about successful installation so I am going to give this one a try. Prestigioussociety.com is facilitating the group buy etc…. http://www.field-net.co.jp/osirase/lmt-01n.html (This is another one but I don’t know anything about it) I might even document the install and add it to this forum but I have not received the unit yet and don’t know when I will get around to installing it. I guess I should also mention that you can hack the navigation but cutting some wires in the back of the radio etc... but it sounds like you are looking for a plug in solution. Again there are man messages about how to do this too. Rule Number 1 - Be Safe Regards,

My '07 IS250 AWD has an open grill. The air has a direct line to the radiator. You can see the horns and radar cruise control box etc… I wonder if they have that air closed off in areas where the summer temperatures are not super hot? I am in the US near Chicago so we get the hottest weather and the colder weather both. I guess I will have to put a piece of cardboard in front of my radiator if my heat stops working well when if is really cold (just kidding) Another thought, do the cars with closed grills have manual transmissions? The Automatics route the tranny fluid through the radiator in addition to the engine coolant. Maybe the cooling requirements are less for the manual gear boxes. Regards,

How much did the extra set of pressure sensors cost? Was LesSchwab able to set the codes? I dug up the procedure for entering the pressure sensor codes, and it looks like it requires a Toyota/Lexus specific communication tool to enter the codes into the car's computer. FWIW - I had a Toyota dealer program TPM sensors for my winter wheels. Went through tirerack as they had the best price on sensors. Cost only 55 bucks which is much less then the Lexus dealers in my area wanted to charge. Regards,