johnatg

They have Shell v-power nitro+, which is rated at 93 on the PON/AKI scale. It's probably equivalent to 97/98 RON which is what v-power is in most of the world. It's 100 in Germany and Italy, 99 in UK and Denmark. But it has all the special detergent additives which are the key features of v-power and make it worth using even if the engine doesn't need the high octane rating (which most Lexus engines don't)

Corroded wheels are a cosmetic and can have no possible bearing on the 'tyre skipping' issue - if the corrosion is worse than cosmetic then 'tyre skipping' is the least of your worries. As I have mentioned here and elsewhere the skipping is because the front wheels have to traverse different arcs - the inner one has a much tighter radius than the outer. The steering arms in Ackermann geometery don't allow this to happen precisely so that the wheels follow correct arcs - making it exact might be possible with a tremendously complex linkage system, probably involving fly-by-wire steering and all sorts of elecronics and electric motors. And there's the whole question of steering feel, stability and road holding. Whilst it's not really related to RWD (vs FWD) FWD cars tend not to suffer because their steering lock is restricted by the CV joints in the drive shafts - they simply can't achieve the lock to make the problem obvious. So they have a bigger turning circle. On the whole that doesn't matter because they tend to have a shorter wheelbase. Lexus could have restricted the lock to make a bigger turning circle but that maybe was seen as an unacceptable compromise. One thing that might help if you are concerned about this is to reduce tyre pressures. Note the recommended pressure on the drivers door label for your tyres and set the pressues right at the bottom end of the range. That will enable the tyre to be more flexible and the distortion will compensate for the slightly incorrect track the wheel is trying to follow. If you are only driving in town you could drop the pressure by another pound or two if necessary. Just adjust the front wheel tyre pressures. If someone tries this, please let us know if it works! Check the tyres are at least at the minimum pressures if you're driving on 'the open road'.

It's a function of the steering geometry. You can't eliminate it - alignment won't help. Just try not to use full steering lock.

Yeah..the Xedos 9 was marketed as the Mazda Millenia in USA. The proposed brand name in Japan was Amati but it never saw the light of day and the cars were marketed in Japan and Oz mainly under the Eunos brand name (Eunos was supposed to be the upmarket brand of cars which were 'fun to drive'. Only the Roadster really lived up to that!). The Eunos brand was also ditched - in 1997. The 'Xedos' models then were called Mazda everywhere. Most if not all Xedos 6 in UK had the 2L v6 - and you're right Linas - only the Xedos 9 had the Miller cycle 2.3L V6. (It was then the only car in the world to use the Miller cycle. Subsequently the Mazda Demio and Mazda2 used it at one time (not the V6 - just a stright 4 Miller)

Mazda used Miller cycle engines in some versions of the Xedos 6 and 9 (sold under Eunos brand name in Japan and Oz.) in the 90s. Ran alongside the 626 and 929. I needed a part from a 929 (speedo drive gear) for my MX-5 when I fitted a higher ratio diff last year. Amazingly still easily available. Miller cycle is very similar to Atkinson cycle - uses a supercharger - Atkinson is normally aspirated. Atkinson cycle engines are fitted to all (?) Lexus hybrids

I often check the MoT history of a car when I get the reg number - it keeps me up to date on the kind of things that cars fail on. Mostly it's trivial - things like lights (number plate lights are a favourite), wiper blades, seized brakes (often shown as brake imbalance), tyres (not trivial). As cars get older things like worn ball joints, corrosion (esp brake pipes but body too) and exhaust faults crop up. Most of these are things you can easily check before submitting your car for MoT. Nico - did you tell them about the SRS light or did you just ask for MoT and Service - 'cos that's what you got - in that order! With newer cars more or less any dash light showing will cause an MoT fail (or incorrect operation of a dash light - eg non-display of a light (eg engine management or ABS) on switch on will fail). Some specific lights showing on older cars are OK. If you watch Wheeler Dealers try checking the MoT history of the cars they do (only UK ones of course). It's very revealing - especially of stuff Edd China didn't fix! ☹️ Glad you're happily reunited with the car, Nico!

It failed the MoT first time through though, Nico. What was the supplementary restraint system warning light all about? And what are 'Offside items'? 🙂 Nothing too serious though!

How can an increase in Ethanol content from 5% to 10% make a reduction of 10% in 'carbon footprint' (ie amount of CO2 produced) ? The maths of that just don't make sense. E5 to E10 implies that 5% more of the fuel is biofuel (ethanol) rather than fossil fuel. It still burns to produce CO2 but that CO2 originally came from the air rather than dug-up oil. But the growing of crops is not fossil fuel free - eg sowing the seeds, production and spreading of fertiliser, harvesting, transport, extraction and processing of ethanol from the plants etc all use fuel, probably most of it fossil fuel. Greenwashing comes to mind.

There aren't many 55mph speed limits in most mainland US states. Limits vary but are mostly in the range 65-80mph (out of town obviously). Texas State Highway 130 has a posted limit of 85mph.

It's all to do with Ackermann steering geometry. Ideally, both front wheels should travel a true radius, but the geometry is a compromise between achieving that and having good handling, roadholding and steering feedback (not that there is much), etc. It simply isn't possible to get all that exactly right. So the wheels don't follow a correct radius, so they 'fight' against each other. At high steering angles and slow speed, this leads to one tyre 'skittering' against the road surface. That's what you feel. When it's cold the tyres are less able to compensate by distorting because they are stiffer than when they're warm. Wikipedia has an article describing it all in detail. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackermann_steering_geometry Especially see the external links.

More to do with the gearbox - it will select the highest gear possible on the overrun. Change down manually if/when you want engine braking to be effective.

I can't imagine that the diff oil does not need changing. Normal operation of the diff grinds off tiny particles of metal from the gears (crownwheel and pinion) and also gradually degrades the oil. There will be a magnetic drain plug which catches much of the metal particles but gradually becomes less effective as the amount of what looks like sludge accumulates. It's recommended for the IS at 25K intervals. Surely the ES, being front wheel drive, has the diff integrated with the gearbox, sharing transmission oil? Or are only recent ES models FWD? Changing the diff oil can't do any harm - I use Lucas Gear oil 75W-90 in the diffs of RWD cars I look after. It's preventative maintenance! Optimally at 25K mile intervals. Lexus service recommendations are a bit lacking - eg what about the brake sliders?

I swear by this: Lucas Synthetic Gear & Transmission Oil SAE 75W-90 Find it on ebay - less than £20 a US quart - use it in all my diffs.

I did it when I had. my IS250. It is due at 25k mile intervals. As with any oil or other fluid change carried out at a recommended interval you won't notice any difference . You may notice a problem later on if you don't do it.

Further to my original post - if you just want to understand the hybrid battery, I'd suggest you search for 'weber auto, Toyota prius 2010-2015 ni-mh battery' - you'll find a long video (over an hour) which will tell you more than you ever wanted to know. Lexus batteries are very similar. Sorry - can't get to the link on my phone.

I've ordered the Panlong one - coming from USA so will be 2 or 3 weeks. Via ebay. Comes to £28 odd with post and import duty PS - my current one is mother of all junks too. But it has worked fine for engine codes on various cars. Won't extract battery codes though.

Heads up, guys. There is an interesting article in December 2021 'Car Mechanics' magazine. The mag does project cars on a regular basis (bit like Wheeler Dealers but more mundane cars and less fanfare!). They did a Prius back in 2018 and it was bought by a chap in NI at about 170K miles. The article in the latest copy of the mag is the buyer's update on the car and it's mostly about his experiences of tackling problems with the traction battery. He replaced some cells but finally gave up and bought an exchange battery at about 200k Miles. Ignore the Prius bit - what follows applies to our Lexus hybrids. Now - he mentions use of a mobile app - Dr Prius/Dr Hybrid which works with an OBDII scanner to extract battery fault codes and displays lots of useful information about cell voltages, battery temperatures, charge rate etc. It's a free download - there is a chargeable version which covers more advanced testing but it looks as if you don't need that. There is a demo mode which shows the info you get. You will probably need a new OBDII scanner - there's a section in the app accessed at 'OBD2 guide' which provides a lot of information about scanners that don't work and those that do. Just because your scanner works with Torque doesn't mean that it will work with Dr Prius. Mine doesn't - I've ordered a different one according to his guide. Also tucked away is a guide to the future - there is a lithium battery upgrade which is available for all Toyota/Lexus hybrids - the GS300h isn't mentioned but that will be because it isn't sold in USA but all other models are (GS450h etc) and include IS300h and ES300h. Not cheap, but one day might be a way to go. All info is US based and I'm not sure how you would get a Lithium battery imported from US - carriers are not keen on Lithium batteries to say the least.

Someone posted this here some time ago. I kept a copy for my future reference. Thanks to whoever it was! Quote> 'Just some info on how to clean the ducts for the hybrid battery cooling fan. In my case its a 2014 gs300h with 120000 miles which is used as a taxi. First remove the upper trim panel in the boot so that you can remove the trim panel that fits behind the rear seat, all this is to remove 1 retaining pin. Next is remove the rear seat base, it just pulls up, now remove the 4 12mm bolts holding the seat backrest in place and pull the base upwards, no need to remove the seat belts but pull the backrest towards the front seats to give a bit of room, behind the felt there are 3 black vent tubes that connect from each side of the car to the cooling fan, there are a few retaining pins to remove and then there is 1 of the retaining pins has to be removed from the boot side, at the fan end of both the side vent tubes is a mesh which gets clogged Can't upload pictures but both of my vent tubes were about 90% clogged. Was an easy enough process and well worth doing. Hope this might be helpful, ' <End quote (PS - I haven't tried it myself yet)

Mine misted up all the time I had it. You must not set the air con to outside when working on the pollen filter - you may have a broken door to it. Unlikely to be connected with misting I alleviated the problem with silica gel - you can buy it in a large pack and stuff some old socks with it. Dry on a radiator or in a microwave.

The VSC light comes on with just about any glitch detected by the ECU. But the Traction control light should only come on when it is operating. It sounds a bit as if incorrect wheel speed is being fed to the control unit. Might be dirt on a reluctor wheel or a faulty wheel speed sensor or a circuit problem. You really need a code to be read - most cheap OBDII readers only give engine codes so may well not indicate any Traction control/ABS problem. A garage with a full coverage code reader might help - might need to be a Lexus dealer. I would think that traction control is still working in actual wheel slip conditions but it's not certain - also ABS could be affected.

You can buy a copy of Techstream and the necessary cable on a well-known auction site - may be not kosher, but it works. You need a laptop to connect it to. There are restrictions on operating systems etc. At the car end it plugs in to the OBDII port. It enables diagnosis, real time data and car settings - also various other features. When you buy a new Lexus you can ask for a settings session free of charge. After that, you pay or it's at dealer's discretion.

Yep - it happens. Probably caused by squeezing the fob in your pocket - sitting down or doing something active - sometimes by children playing with the fob etc etc. The feature is so you can open the windows on a hot day without going to the car - er....is that useful, really? It's a long press on the unlock button. Similarly, a long press on the lock button will close them. It works the sunroof too if you had one. It can be disabled in Techstream. If you haven't got Techstream a) all Lexus owners should have - or b) a dealer will do it for you - at a cost £££.

Although there is not much difference in actual dimensions, the GS feels like a significantly bigger car than the IS (I had an IS250 for 7+ years before I swapped it for my GS two years ago) The GS just feels more luxurious too and as you say - better equipped (mine is a Premier). Car tax on pre-2017 GS300h is £20 (Some are £10 - depends on exact model)

Not sure what you're getting at there, John. Last dates are always difficult to ascertain because there are usually remaining stocks of an outgoing model when a new one comes in, at least in markets other than Japan. I suspect that there were few Mk 3 GS300 models made after 2007 but they continued on sale in UK for quite some time after that. It didn't 'become a hybrid model'. There was no Mk 3 GS250 - the GS250 came in as the first Mk 4 model in 2012 preceding the GS450h by a few months - again perhaps to clear stocks of the Mk 3 GS450h. The GS300h (Mk 4) was introduced in late 2014 and ran alongside for GS250 at least sales-wise, although again I suspect that few, if any, 250s were imported after the 300h came in. The market was a bit crowded with GS450h, GS300h and GS250 - so the GS250 was dropped once stocks had run out in 2015. There was a GS200t in the US - I don't think they made it to UK? Anyone? (It didn't last long even in US) GS models were impoted to UK until 2019 - production for all markets ceased in late 2020. Those with greater knowledge might shoot nme down on some points here but that is what I understand.

Cost - there surely will be! You have a couple of options. 1) Pour yourself a stiff drink, sit down and call your local Lexus dealer for a price. Or, when you have recovered from that shock, try 2) 2) https://toyotamaps.online/ You'll need to identify which model sat nav you have - possibly Gen 7 but don't quote me. The updater is pretty straightforward - I posted details of how mine went somehwre here - it was in November/December 2019 but I can't just find it. Also copied in another post recently. My update then was to April 2019 - I think there is an April 2021 version available now. Camera warning s are a bit vague, but you get a bleep when one is in range. Or - drive within speed limits - you won't get warnings of most mobile cameras and they are more common these days. One will get you sooner or later if you exceed limits - from personal experience!☹️