Britprius

£5500 is not cheap in my world, and that is the minimum price the seller is expecting. John.

On your original battery there is a sensor for battery temperature. This can be gently pried off, and glued or taped to the top of you replacement battery. John.

It does seem strange that Lexus sometimes use AGM batteries and at other times flooded apart from the reasons I have already given. However in answer to your question yes you can use a flooded battery in your IS300H. As far as fitting a larger battery goes it depends on how much space there is around your battery. See my post linked below. John.

There are no codes for a low 12 volt battery, Only spurious misleading messages such as "put the car into P mode when parking". Also gel AGM batteries generally cost more than wet type AGM batteries, but otherwise the construction of both batteries are the same. The difference is the standard AGM use liquid acid while the gel AGM battery uses the acid in gel form. The gel battery will work but it's life will be shorter than expected other than under the conditions it was designed for. Toyota/Lexus would have fitted a gel AGM battery from new if they were cheaper, would last longer, and were suitable for the application. In my GS450H I have fitted a 110 AH flooded battery as the original was a 70 AH flooded battery that failed when it was 12 years old. Toyota/Lexus usually use AGM batteries generally where they are fitted inside the cabin of the car for safety reasons such as in the Prius, and CT200H along with others. This is so that in an accident there is no free liquid acid to splash onto occupants of the car should the battery be damaged. With the GS hybrid the battery being in the boot there is no point in using an AGM battery. John.

Under no circumstances use a gel battery. The problem with gel batteries is the very limited charge rate. All lead acid batteries be they flooded, liquid AGM, or gel AGM form gas bubbles on the plates if charged quickly or are continued to charge when already fully charged. With the flooded, and liquid AGM batteries the bubbles just float to the surface. With gel AGM batteries the bubbles cannot float in the gel, and are permanently trapped against the cell plates reducing the area of plate in contact with the acid. In turn the rest of the area of the plate carries more current making that more susceptible to gassing with the same problem. These bubbles are very difficult to remove. The only way being to put the battery into a high vacuum so that the bubbles expand, and have a better chance of forcing themselves upwards through the gel. Even this is not 100% effective. The hybrid DC to DC converter that charges the 12 volt battery can, and does charge at far higher rates than gel batteries are designed for. Used in the right circumstances gel batteries have a long life, and are particularly suited to standby use or use in very cold conditions, but are not suitable for automotive applications. John.

I use Techstream on my cars. Not having tried shorting the pins on the OBD port I cannot comment on if that works or not, but it may be worth trying. John.

After any work done on the steering or suspension it is important that zero point calibration is done on the power steering. The system works by the computer knowing where the strait ahead position of the steering wheel is in comparison to where the steering rack believes it is. If these two points do not match when the wheels are in the strait ahead position the power steering will try to steer the car where it thinks strait ahead is pulling the steering to one side or the other. This ties the mechanical part of the steering to the electronic part. This also affects the stability control system, and the yaw sensor. I hope this simplistic explanation will show some light on the problem. John.

I changed the coolant pump today along with the tensioner pulley with the new bearings fitted. The job was easier than anticipated once the many hoses to the thermostat housing, and the housing it's self were removed along with a couple of plastic tidy panels on either side of the engine. After the injection ECU is unbolted from the front drivers side of the engine, and swung out of the way on it's wires the many bolts holding the pump could be removed. These come in two sizes with 10 &11 mm spanner size heads. All the 10 mm are the same length and all the 11 mm are the same as each other but longer than the 10 mm. This means the bolts cannot be fitted in the wrong places making reassembly easy. After removing the pump internally the pump, and the engine block looked as new with no signs of corrosion. The new pump was fitted, and fresh Toyota SLLC coolant installed. There were no problems with bleeding out air. Just run the engine, and top up the coolant as air bubbles rise, and coolant level goes down. Some may ask why I did not change the thermostat while I had the housing off, but this is easy to change at any time, and I see no reason to replace a working item. The engine when standing at the front of the car with it running is noticeably quieter "no dry bearing rasping sounds". I drained, and refilled the inverter coolant fluid to complete the coolant part of the service. Items left to do are differential oil change, and gearbox oil pump electric motor bearings. My problem is I have to do this on ramps so far from ideal. John.

The bearings for the tensioner pulley arrived today so I decided to do this part of the coolant pump replacement. Only one lefthand "clockwise to undo" threaded bolt to undo, and the pulley was off. After pressing out the inner sleeve from the two old bearings then the bearings from the pulley I can now confirm that the 6203RS bearings are the correct ones to use. The old bearings although having no play in them were obviously past there best at circa 145,000 miles sounding very dry when spun. The new bearings when fitted in comparison as expected were very smooth, and silent in operation. Total cost of bearings £2-50 so quite a saving on Lexus pulley prices. I have yet to remove the coolant pump "a job for tomorrow", but the pulley on the pump has a small amount of side play, but know sign of leakage. This pump was identified by Lexus main dealer as needing changing 50,000 miles ago. I have fresh Toyota SLLC coolant ready to go in after fitting the pump. John.

Joe I have a GS450H 2007 "the same body shell" I will take some pictures tomorrow, and put them here. John.

There is a large black plastic tray that contains the tool kit "spanners pliers ect" . After removing the carpet covered floor you then lift this tray out to get at the spare wheel. Check for body damage in this area as it is possible with a rear end collision this tray would get damaged, and left out. John.

Even the "mint" car enthusiasts car has not been MOT'd since feb 2013. Part of the refurb was the fitting of a HID conversion kit that was, and still is illegal. John.

Thanks Phil I will see if I can cross reference any of those numbers. John.

Thanks John. I thought it would probably be an LS, but I shall watch with interest. John.

Richard are you missing the particular ECU or is yours faulty? I ask because there are companies that repair/reset airbag ecu's. John.

If possible could you read the idler bearing numbers off the actual bearings. It is etched on the bearings and often also shown on the red rubber seals. I am guessing they are 6203RS, but conformation would be appreciated. Thanks John.

For those that missed it the first time round "me included" Wheeler dealers are refurbishing a Lexus on TV tonight after midnight on channel 13 freeview. I do not know what model, but it may be of interest to many LOC members. John.

When the bearings have arrived, and I remove the old bearings I will confirm if they are correct or not. I have looked at many pictures of the two types of pulleys even from different Toyota/Lexus engines, and all I have been able to positively identify use the same 6203RS bearing. The RS designation is for rubber seals "metal seals are available". The bearing dimensions are :- ID 17mm, OD 40mm, Width 12mm. I know changing the bearings in the pulleys does require a little extra work, but the savings are substantial given that it would be very unusual to find a pulley that is otherwise unusable apart from physical damage. John.

Thanks Collin. After much researching, and confirmed by your picture the pulley uses two 6203RS bearings that are readily available at £2 each depending on how many you buy " this can go down to 85 pence each for ten bearings. This makes a saving on the OEM part of over £50, and on the aftermarket versions of between £14 & £30. If you look closely at your picture 6203RS is imprinted on the rubber seal, and from my research there are two bearings pressed into the pulley, and a metal tube pressed into the bearing bores. The bearings seem to be the same on most Lexus models, and when used to tension the belt internally on the belts with ridged pulleys use two bearings. Where external plain idler pulleys are used on the back of the belt they take only one bearing. I have ordered four bearings delivered for £5.01 to give me spares for the future. For reference the tensioner bolt is a lefthand thread while idler pulley bolts are normal righthand thread. John

I am about to change the engine coolant pump as part of the service. When I have the drive belt tensioner pulley off the car It would be prudent to replace the bearing in the pulley. Does anyone know the bearing number "not the Lexus part number for the assembly" so that I might buy a bearing to press into the pulley while I have the pulley off the car. It may be that someone has changed the pulley, and has the old one in there garage they can check on for me. If the bearing number cannot be seen the bearing dimensions "bore, outside dia, and width" would allow me to trace the correct bearing. This is for a GS450H 2006 till 2011. Thanks John.

A link bar breaking "front or rear" is a very common problem, and due to the ball joints at either end of the links seizing. It is easy to repair these either by replacing with a threaded rod, and new ball joints readily available on Ebay. Or by simply fitting a suitable piece of tube over the broken stubs fixing them with hot melt glue or epoxy resin. The warning light not coming on or staying on, and an obvious broken link is an MOT failure now. This is because the headlamps are HID, and require levelers to help remove glare to oncoming drivers. John.

In engineering terms the amount of thread used on a stud by a nut should be at leased the equivalent of the diameter of the stud. So a 14 mm stud should have a minimum of 14 mm of thread used by the nut. John.

The inverter contains other items apart from the actual drive system for the car. It also contains "as separate circuit boards" the DC to DC converter to charge the 12 volt battery, the inverter drive for the AC compressor motor, and the buck boost converter that boosts the battery voltage from 288 volts to 650 volts. On there own these would be useful items to keep in stock to repair other faulty units. It is also possible that just one faulty FET " a type of high current transistor" would be a likely cause of breakdown of which there are many in the invert. Good one's could be removed to repair another inverter. John.

Lorne. As Lee correctly states the power steering on the GS450H is electrically powered. The drive motor is mounted on the steering column. It may be that after 14 years the grease on the gears has dried up causing the noise, and re-greasing may well cure the problem. While your in the area it would be prudent to grease the steering height, and reach mechanism as this is prone to the same sort of problems leading to the mechanism seizing. Used steering columns are available, and cheap on the "BAY" if replacement is required. Lexus undoubtedly would charge more than the car is worth for a replacement. Strictly speaking after carrying out any work on the steering "including suspension, and tracking work" the steering should be "zero point calibrated" using Techstream to complete the process. John.

The DVLA are experts at loosing documents, but will never admit to making any sort of mistake. My wife had to renew her driving licence sending in our marriage certificate. They said they never received it, but we know 100% it was in with all the other paperwork. Like many other government departments there is no bringing out the truth, and holding them to some sort of responsibility. After all it is your word against a government department that can never make a mistake. John.