Britprius

Steve welcome to LOC. As Lee says there is another TPMS button on the passengers side. This is for a summer or winter set of tyres. Each TPMS monitor has to be registered in the TPMS ECU. John

Yes the passengers side (UK) is bank 2, and contains cylinders numbers, 2/4/6 Bank 1 (drivers side on GS450H UK) has cylinders 1/3/5. John

Lee. Because of the layout of the cam timing sensors it is usually the passengers side sensor that triggers the fault code. This is because the length of chain from the crank to this cam is about three times the length of chain to the drivers side. Therefore it sees three times the amount of stretch or ware on the hinge part of each link. Obviously not in the manual the chain can be changed "I have done this not on my car" by splitting both the new and old chains. Then join them together with a split link, and winding the engine over by hand until the link reappears. The link is then used to join the new chain ends. John.

The startup rattle is usually the oil draining down from the cam phasers, and can be cured by fitting a pre-lube system to refill the phasers with oil before the engine starts. See my post "removing cam phaser noise". The codes you are getting do suggest timing chain ware, but "could" be just dirty sensors "cam or crank". The chain can be changed on it's own without dismantling the complete front of the engine, but just by removing the drivers side cam cover, and chain tensioner cover on the front of the engine to remove the tensioner. Obviously in going this route the guides cannot be changed. If you do dismantle the front of the engine to change the chain, and guides you may as well fit new later version cam phasers. This will only cost an arm, and a leg. If you need any information on changing the chain without dismantling the front of the engine private message me for the details. John.

As Phil above says do not use EV to try to improve your MPG. It is fine for swapping cars round on the driveway so that no fuel is used. It must be remembered that all of the energy from the car comes from petrol. Driving in EV mode reduces the battery state of charge. The computer them makes engine then not only power the car along, but also has to charge the battery using more fuel. The idea is that the battery should be charged from energy that would normally be wasted such as braking, coasting down a hill, or on overrun. This kinetic energy has already been put into the car from the engine, and reclaiming it uses no fuel. There are occasions where the computer will make the engine produce more power than is required to keep the car moving, and produce some electricity. On these occasions it is because it is calculated the engine will be running more efficiently at this higher output, and save fuel by putting that little extra energy into the battery for later use. John.

Bob welcome to LOC, and many more years of Lexus driving pleasure. John.

Yes Lee I had thought of that, but it would still need a timer to close the solenoid shortly after startup so that the container can be refilled with oil under pressure ready for the next start. The oil will be at it's highest pressure after startup because it will be more viscous being cold, and this would be the best time to fill the container at the highest pressure. If by any chance the oil pressure is higher for some reason "higher engine speed" at a later time the container will top up as it were to that pressure. John.

I also had a rattle on the rear passengers side of the car when I bought mine. One day when filling with petrol I noticed the filler tube move, and make a metallic noise. To cure the movement I stretched an "O" ring over the fill tube, and this took up the play. On driving the car the rattle in the rear had gone. Your MPG does seem a little on the low side. I find 35 MPG easy, but get more like 40/41 mpg on a regular 50 mile run on rural roads. I never use motorways as there are non in the area I live John.

Nick. Was it considered a no fault claim or were you held to be responsible for the accident? Also how well did they treat you as a claimant? My claim could not have gone more smoothly apart from a delay with repairs due to a door having to be flown from Japan. John.

Having made a claim with Saga I can say there service was all that it should be, and more. Not the usual tin box on wheels as a loan car, but a Mercedes "C" class for the duration of the repair of 7 weeks with it's own fully comp insurance provided by Saga, and no excess. I also did not have to pay the excess, and reclaim it as has happened in the past. I have also had to renew my policy since the claim, and my premium for the renewal was exactly the same as last year £265 with £150 excess. Well done Saga. 👍 John.

As I said in the first post I kept the operation electrically simple. It can however be made to run with a timer "as the commercial unit appears to do", and or using the engine oil pressure switch to operate a relay so that when the ignition is turned on a set of normally closed contacts on the relay open the solenoid to lubricate the engine, and fill the phasers. When oil pressure is reached where the oil light turns off the solenoid will close being turned off by the oil pressure, and refill with oil. With a little thought no direct input for operation is required. It would be useful to find a way of delaying the engine start on hybrids "there is already a 2 or 3 second delay from pressing start" to give more time for the oil to circulate in the engine, and fill the phasers. It may be that that 2 or 3 seconds is enough, but this depends somewhat on the length of the flexible hose, and it's bore diameter restricting the oil flow. I have not yet done tests on this. John.

Below is a video of the commercially available system. This will give a better understanding of what it does, and how it works. John.

Having had an advisory on my MOT for ride height sensor broken rod I took the mechanism off the car for repair. The rod "about 7" long had broken in the middle. To repair this I found a piece of steel tubing that the rods would just slide into about 1/4" bore. I filled the tube with hot melt glue, and then using a small gas blow torch heated the ends of the tube, and pushed the broken ends into the tube then allowed it to cool. A spray of black paint completed the repair. I thought while I had the part off the car I would do some preventive maintenance on the sensor it's self having read stories of rusted contacts, and springs. I removed the sensor from it's mounting bracket, and opened it up expecting to find a variable resistor "rheostat". What I actually found was a contact less magnetic hall effect device. These are very reliable. So I put it back together with a good coating of hot glue in the joints, and refitted it. Fitting back on the car was a quick simple job of two bolts to hold the bracket on the car, and one nut on the ball joint to fasten it to the lower suspension arm. John.

Perhaps I should point out to people intending to try this do not try to make up a flexible hose using rubber or plastic tubing with hose clip fittings. Although the pressure in the hose is not very high failure of the hose will empty the engine of oil while on the move. Not a good situation. By fitting an internal pickup pipe in the container it is possible to arrange for the container to lye on it's side or have the outlet at the top. However this rely just complicates the building of the system. John.

It seems most of the Toyota range from the Prius up can suffer this problem. John.

Lee. The commercial version has the separator piston so that the container can be orientated in any position, but as long as the oil feed is at the bottom of the container this is not important. Yes I did fit a pressure gauge to start with to monitor the operation pressure. As said in my post you can if you wish fit an isolating tap in the line. Under normal circumstances the system as I have fitted it is completely isolated from the engine until the button is pressed to open the solenoid. This means that under normal running "short duration start stops" where the phasers do not have time to drain down the engine works completely as OEM. My car takes 1 hour + at standstill before the noise appears. As far as operating the system goes it can be as simple or as automated as desired. One way would be to have a timer start to run after pushing the start button without the brake pedal. Then push the start again with the brake pedal to go to ready mode. The timer switches of the supply to the solenoid after a given time, and the container refills with oil if not already full. When the engine reaches normal oil pressure the container will fill "or 3/4 fill" with oil at the same pressure. The solenoid can then close. If the oil pressure goes above that of the oil in the container for some reason the container will fill with more oil at that pressure because the solenoid acts like a one way valve. This is why it is important to orientate the solenoid correctly with the arrow on it's underside pointing to the engine. The oil is then sealed in the container until the next manual start after shut down. I do not think there is enough delay to run the system direct from the normal start sequence. As you know there is a delay when going to ready mode before the engine starts. I will have to do an experiment with that. The important thing is that the solenoid is not open at shut down or the container will empty into the engine. I hope this makes sense. John.

My car had the not unusual cam phaser cold start up rattle from when I first bought it. I found a relatively easy method of curing this, and at the same time reducing cold start engine ware. The method consists of fitting an engine pre lubrication system to give oil pressure before the engine starts. I made the system up using readily available parts that should cost no more than £25 in total. I have had this system running for over a year now. Ebay is your friend here for parts. The parts required are followed by pictures :- (1) A fluid control solenoid valve suitable for oil with a 12 volt coil, and 1/2" BSP ports. (2) 2 x 1/2" to 1/4" BSP adapters male to female. (3) 1 x 1/4" BSP "T" piece female (4) 1x 1/4 BSP male to male coupler (5) 1 x Grease gun flexible hose with 1/4 BSP ends. (standard fitting) (6) A pressure container that holds approximately 1Ltr, and will withstand 100 PSI minimum. (see text) (7) Some form of mounting brackets for the above. (I used 3" exhaust clamps for the cylinder I used.) Solenoid valve. 1/2" to 1/4" adapter 1/4" BSP "T" 1/4" BSP male coupler Flexible hose rated at 900 bar more than capable of the at most 4 bar it will be used for. The pressure container (empty gas bottle) with solenoid valve attached. The flexible hose screw into the bottom of the solenoid with the tank vertical. The hose then goes to the "T" that is fitted on the oil pressure outlet. The oil pressure switch is removed from the top of the oil filter housing, and the 1/4" male to male fitting screwed in its place. The "T" piece is then screwed onto the male fitting, and the oil pressure switch then screws into one of the available ports on the "T" piece witch ever is the most convenient. The flexible hose is then screwed into the other port. This completes the work on the engine. The end of the flexible hose screws into one of the 1/2" to 1/4" BSP fittings, and this in turn is screwed into the port on the solenoid with the arrow on the bottom of the solenoid pointing to it. The other 1/2" to 1/4" fitting is screwed into the other port on the solenoid with the 1/4" male to male screwed into it. The tank is screwed onto this, and mounted vertically with the solenoid at the bottom. " so that the oil enters the bottom of the tank" I used PTFE tape on all the threads, but any suitable sealant could be used. You can if you wish fit a lever type tap in the line from the engine to isolate the system This completes the plumbing. The solenoid was chosen with 1/2" ports because it has a larger internal port opening to assist quick oil flow. Electrical. This can be as simple or complicated as you wish as a basic push button operation or a completely automatic system using a timer from the cars start button. I am for the moment just giving the simple version. One of the two wires from the solenoid is grounded. The other wire is extended to a suitable position on the dash to a push button switch this switch is fed via a 5amp fuse from a permanent 12 volt feed. This completes the basic electrical work. Operation. The car is started in the normal way the first time, and allowed to run for a minute or so then turned off. Check the oil level, and top up as required. The amount depends on the size of the tank your have chosen. This only needs doing at the first start up after fitting the system. The system operates by the tank being partly filled with oil at engine pressure while the engine is running. the solenoid valve allows oil to pass through it in the reverse direction to that of the arrow on the bottom of it. The air in the tank is trapped, and compressed to engine oil pressure with the engine running. When the engine is stopped the solenoid will not let the oil under pressure out of the tank. When you wish to start the car press and hold the newly fitted button for about 10 seconds to give time for the oil to get into the engine. This will open the solenoid and the oil at engine pressure will flow round the engine filling the cam phasers, and lubricating all the moving parts. Then push the start button in the normal way. The engine will start without the noise, and the tank will refill with oil ready for the next start. The tank I used was an empty blow torch gas bottle. These hold gas under pressure at around 100 PSI, and are capable of holding well over double that pressure for safety reasons. I drilled and tapped the valve end of the bottle to 1/4" BSP. Any container that will hold 60 PSI reliably, and with a capacity of about a Ltr or more will work, but the inlet to the tank must be positioned at the bottom. It also must be perfectly clean inside. I calculate that depending on actual engine oil pressure the tank will fill to about 3/4 of it's actual capacity based on 45/50 PSI oil pressure. The flexible hose can be a made up hose from company's such as Pertech, but must be capable of holding the engine oil pressure reliably. The bore of the hose should be large enough so as not to restrict oil flow. This is possibly the downside of using a grease gun hose, but they are rated at 900 bar 13410 PSI so no chance of it bursting, and are an off the shelf item. The length of the hose should be chosen to suit the mounting position of the tank. Sorry I could not get pictures of the system fitted, and I will answer any questions as there are bound to be things I have missed. John.

A small exhaust leek at the front between the two front sensors is the likely cause. Removing the bulb in the dash is now an MOT fail. The examiner turns on the ignition and watches all the warning lights go out in sequence. Any light not coming on or not going out is a fail. John.

I have a GS450h, and that is an excellent tow car, and there is no reason to expect the RX450H would be any worse. In fact with the electric assist to the rear wheels 4 wheel drive system it should be very capable. I suppose the only real difference is the GS is rear wheel drive with a limmited slip diff. while the RX is predominantly front wheel drive with assist to the rear wheels. John.

Are you getting a fault code for the timing chain/valve timing or are you trying to cure a short duration start up rattle? The start up rattle is the cam phasers draining of oil. I am about to post in the next few days a post on fitting a DIY engine pre lube system that not only cures the rattle but reduces start up engine ware. John.

Hi Paul. I have visited FCS on a couple of occasions. It' is not an impressive looking establishment being part of a car breakers, but your not paying for a glass showroom, and free coffee . However I found the guys there knowledgeable, and helpful. The new parts come in OEM boxes, and they do guarantee them. Definitely the best price I have found in this country. John.

I have done around 3,000 miles on mine with the same sort of roads "no motorway". I run at 40 PSI all round, and was surprised that this does not make for a harsh ride or increase noise levels. Having just had the car MOT'd the test shows the front tyres have 7mm, and the rears 6mm of tread left so very little ware in the given millage. In theory 20,000 miles should be possible on a set. John.

I managed to get the car in for MOT today after it's extended holiday in the body shop. The car past with one advisory "front self adjusting headlamp link broken". This is almost certain pothole damage as the two ball joints on the rod are free to articulate. The tester was not sure if this was a fail, but after a phone call it was established that because there is also a ride height sensor on the rear that was intact the tester could not ascertain if the system was working or not. The regulation on this is that the tester in these circumstances must give it a pass. The fifth pass in a row, but the first with an advisory. This is an easy repair there being no need to even jack the car up to remove and repair the offending rod. John.

Jeff I am also now using Landsail 558's, and agree with your findings. I have not yet had them on long enough to gauge tyre ware rate. They appear to be as good as triple "a" tyres i tested previously, but time will tell. John.

Alexander my car is a 2007, and the 2006/7 cars in the UK came in two forms. Cars with ACC (active cruise control), and sun roof. "The ACC applied the brakes when required" The other version "mine" had normal cruise control, and no sun roof. From 2008 the options varied to remove or include other features. There is no real "kick down" the system works on the speed of movement of the accelerator to adjust the rate of acceleration. My car in sport mode or hybrid power mode gives instant acceleration at any speed from standstill upwards without going to full throttle. This does however depend on battery charge level to some degree. John.