johnatg

My GS300h premier has 18" wheels with Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres. I would describe the ride as acceptable - firm but not amazingly insulating from road structure - potholes etc. It's not the best feature of the car - the ride is not comparable to Jaguar XJ, for example. But you'll get used to it. Every car has its pros and cons and the Lexus has more pros and fewer cons than most comparable vehicles.

You're paying about £200 for the spark plug change but they don't need doing until past 60K miles It is ridiculous to change plugs based on time. If they will do the warranty without the plug change you'd be quids in.

That's strange - my IS250 (2006) definitely had an alloy sump. I always used the Smartearlybird fibre/aluminium washers and continue to do so on my GS300h (also alloy sump) - no problems at all.

Re the ATS/Groupon regas deal - I had my wife's Mii done last week. If you haven't had your aircon regassed in the last 2-3 years, it's an excellent opportunity. ATS normally charge £62 so the Groupon deal at £38 is great value. The gas does leak out and the aircon gets less efficient over time. Be aware that not all ATS branches accept the Groupon voucher - eg Knutsford doesn't but Macclesfield and Altrincham do in my locality

The thing of it is - it's not that easy. You have to remove the back seat to get to the traction battery isolation plug (I think it's that orange thing on the face of the battery in the pic below) And is that enough anyway? Could you still fry something in the hybrid electronics by electric welding even if the battery is isolated? I suspect that the garage is going to find out the hard way that welding on a hybrid or electric vehicle is not as straightforward as welding on an ICE car where it's easy to disconnect a battery terminal

The battery space is exactly the same on GS300h as GS450h, so yes - they will fit.

OP was misled by the forum description. It says 'Lexus 450h' Mods - can you change the forum description to say GS450h and what about GS300h? Or just have Lexus GS ? Thanks!

Check this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163090823963?fits=Car+Make%3ALexus&epid=13039424755&hash=item25f8f87b1b:g:D6UAAOSwirFbHScb

OK to drive with the aircon off.

Compressor seized?

Can't really comment on a comparison but the is220d has a poor reputation here. The Insignia diesel has a fatal flaw to do with an o-ring in the oil pick up from the sump. You don't know there's a problem until the oil pressure warning light comes on by which time the engine is wrecked. Which is why there are so many cheap Insignia diesels about. Cheap fuel? Can't compensate for the costs involved in fixing engine problems. Fuel cost for an is250 is nothing like double the diesel - in fact quite similar now, I'd say.

Nice as it is to have an unusual feature, I think at this point I'd be looking at what would be involved in getting it to non-steered rear suspension spec. Just a thought!

At least you would avoid the probably huge Lexus UK (or wherever) markup. Might take a while to ship though esp as they're shut for a hol.

That would do the trick. Or you can get readers which connect to your phone via Bluetooth, then you use the app 'Torque' to read codes and get other info. In the meantime, try changing the battery in the key. That is sometimes the cause of 'Check VSC'.

Come, come - that's unnecessarily pessimistic. That engine will do 250K miles or more. Even if it does burn a little oil along the way.

Depends when it was last checked to be full and also how long it had to drain down after stopping the engine, and did the 5.5 ltrs or whatever include what came out of the filter?. You'll always get a good deal less than the full capacity of 6.3 litres when draining.

You probably need to reset the windows - drive each one up and down with its own door switch, pausing for a few seconds at the up and down positions. Same with the sunroof but I'm not sure how you reset that - may be you've done it by getting it closed.

Indeed - beat me to it. The codes indicate cat system operating below threshold - cats or the lambda sensors could have been damaged by too much oil

Well low - it should be above half way between the two dots. As Piers said: 'wipe it and carefully insert/withdraw'. Probably needs half a litre or so.

I don't think there's any automatic adjustment. If you switch to Sport+ mode you get (considerably) stiffer shocks, otherwise they just do their basic job. At least on my GS300h - are GS450h different suspension-wise? I very rarely use Sport+. (I'm talking Mk4 GS here - were Mk 3 different?)

But the tyres are wider on the rear. That is correct.

The bulbs have a blue envelope (glass). This filters out some of the longer wavelength light (red) which reduces the overall light output of the bulb but makes the light appear 'whiter' than it otherwise would. The light is still pretty yellow in comparison with led and gas discharge bulbs.

You can get a Bosch or Fram air filter from ebay for less than £10. Either will do exactly the same job as a Lexus one.

Those of you who have watched the videos I posted links to recently by Car Care Nut may be a little concerned about the battery cooling fan and filter state - see pics in post above. CCN emphasises that keeping the cooling filters and fan clean is critical to traction battery life. Whilst researching this, I came across some interesting items, including a TSB (TSBs are public domain in US - why not here in UK?). GS450h TSBs are here: https://www.carcomplaints.com/Lexus/GS_450h/2015/tsbs/ and in other places. I chose the 2015 (in US parlance 'cos that will be closest to my GS300h 2014) (GS300h not sold in US but pretty well everything but the drive train is the same as GS450h) OK - this TSB relating to HV Battery Cooling System Maintenance -MC-10179691-9999.pdf I also found a youtube video where a guy was quoted $750 or so to get the filter cleaned on a RAV 4 at a California Toyota dealer - and it's a bit easier than on a GS! So I thought I'd have look. I followed John's (Pops1 - John in Galway) instructions except that I didn't do anything in the boot - the whole job can be done inside the car. First you need to remove the back seat. Lift the corner of the seat which will help to locate the retaining prongs, then on one side grasp the lower front edge of the seat either side of the retainer then pull upwards VERY hard. It does come eventually! Repeat for the other side. Move the seat base forward a little and you will find two electrical connectors at the back, one on each side - disconnect. I assume these are for the 'seat occupied' detectors. Remove the seat from the car. Now it helps to remove the three rear headrests, then undo four bolts (12mm socket) at the lower edge of the backrest. Lift (a strong lift!) from the bottom of the backrest at each side to disconnect the top retainers - you need to lift it quite high as the retainer things are unnecessarily long. Swing the backrest forward as shown. Fold the heat/sound insulation upwards and rest it on the back shelf. Remove 5 trim clips to release the centre section of the vent duct. One clip is hidden above and behind the duct - I guess this is the one that John dismantled the boot trim for but it is easily reachable from inside the car - just don't drop it!. Manipulate the centre part of the duct away from the side sections and the fan inlet. (That's why GS seats don't fold down or even have a 'ski- hatch'!) My filters were fairly clean but I gave them a good blast of compressed air to clear them - stupidly they are rivetted to the duct. If you need to clean the fan note the instruction in the TSB to retain the fan to stop it spinning with compressed air flow. On reassembly make sure that the duct is properly located on the fan inlet. Relocating the backrest is a bit fiddly - as I said you need to lift the backrest quite high. Don't forget the 'seat occupied detector' connectors when replacing the seat base My conclusion - if your use of the car is you and maybe your partner only and you wear reasonably lint-free clothes, you probably never need to do this. But if you have frequent back seat passengers, maybe kids and a hairy dog - you should probably check the filters and fan after say 50K miles. YMMV! PS - apparently the filters are only fitted from 2014 on (US 2015 model year) GS cars Keep away from the orange cables!

I think they just feel for blows with the engine running. Why not see if an exhaust fabrication place can make up and fit a replacement section? I can recommend JP Exhausts if you're anywhere near Congleton - others are available!