Britprius

This is caused by the cold cathode tubes used to illuminate the screen getting tired. It is normal for these tubes "a type of florescent tube" to have reduced light output when cold, but they do loose output as they age, and eventually stop working. Be aware the voltage used with these tubes particularly when they are first turned on is high, and can give a nasty shock. John.

If Techstream will not do it nothing will since this is what the dealers use, and is the official Toyota program. John.

My 2007 GS450H is exempt on two counts. Because it is a hybrid, and I have a blue badge. John.

Invariably you will find both the AGM and standard sealed have vent at the end of the battery, and a rubber tube is fitted, and vents to the underside he car. This is true of the Prius, and the CT but not the GS450H. The great majority of modern sealed batteries be they AGM or flooded now use a low pressure relief valve above each cell, and each cell has a catalyst in the top to convert the hydrogen, and oxygen gasses back in to water to alleviate the need for topping up with distilled water. Even the batteries with the old style top up caps have the catalyst in the caps now. Without this both types of battery would dry out very quickly, but particularly the AGM because of it's lack of spare liquid. Both types of battery use exactly the same chemistry for there operation. Gassing will occur if the battery charge rate is to high producing more gas than the catalyst can cope with. Gel batteries will also gas if the charge rate is to high, but this generally destroys the battery as the gas gets stuck in the gel against the plates as it cannot rise through the gel. This reduces the area of the gel in contact with the plates reducing the capacity, and the safe charge rate further. John. John.

As an addition to the above for many years some vehicles have had standard flooded batteries inside the cabin. The VW beetle and mini van, and pickup, the Mercedes MPV, and there must be many more. I do not know where the battery in the GS300H is located. If in the boot or under the bonnet there is no reason to use an AGM. If in the cabin It is up to you to asses any risk for the use of a standard battery. John.

The hybrid 12 volt battery does not need to be of the stop start variety as it does not start the car. When the engine stops in a hybrid while driving the car stays in ready mode, and this in turn means the 12 volt battery is still being charged from the hybrid HV battery via the Dc to DC converter "there being no alternator as this would not work with the engine stationary". When the engine starts it uses the hybrid battery to turn the engine over via one of the motor generators in the transmission "there is no 12 volt starter motor" so the 12 volt battery is not employed. The reason for the more expensive battery in the Prius, and the CT200H is that they use a more expensive AGM battery "absorbed glass mat". This type of battery has no free liquid acid to spill if the battery case get broken in an accident with the battery being in the passenger compartment "although well covered. I do not know the location of the 12 volt battery in the GS300H. If it is in the boot or under the bonnet there is no reason to use an AGM battery. If it is inside the car it must be your choice. In the GS450H the battery is in the boot so the above does not apply, and a normal battery is used. I would not hesitate to use a normal battery in the Prius or CT as I do not consider acid splash is a substantial risk, but this decision must be up to the individual. The is no functional difference between an AGM battery, and a standard flooded battery. John.

John. On the MK3 GS450H with a very slight reversible modification to the rear edge of the battery tray a 110 AH battery can be fitted without any problems. These are available for around £80, and have near double the OEM capacity for no extra cost. See my post from May 2019. Fitting a larger 12 volt battery. John.

Apart from the dipped headlamps the display screen size definition, and functions that are bound to be better in a car that is 12 years newer I could not find anything else in the Merc that I preferred to my GS, and I do wonder what the Merc will be like when it is 12 years old. It being a diesel I would think it will have been crushed by then. John.

Update to my experience of the Mercedes C220d after a 100+ mile trip on rural, and town roads. Initially I found the accelerator to be very non responsive, but things improved a little but still not great by going into sport mode. Even then there was a long delay from pressing the pedal to anything meaningful happening. This was not helped around town with the engine stopping every time I came to a standstill to the point it got annoying in stop go traffic when the engine would stop just as the traffic in front began to move. At busy traffic islands "particularly the type you cannot see over" with the engine stopped and needing to get onto the island before a car came into view was problematic. The delay after pressing the accelerator for overtaking something like a tractor that I had been following on rural roads was such that in my GS I would have got passed the tractor in the time it took for the Merc to react. The seats although of the bucket type were not comfortable. There seems to be little in the way of padding, and did not stop me moving about on the seat. The ride in sport mode was firm as expected, but it did not ride potholes well even with 225/50/17 Continental summer tyres fitted. There was some road noise, but especially around town this was drowned out sum what by the drone of the diesel The "HID I think" headlamps on dip beam were brilliant lighting up the road, and hedges on both sides of the road well with very defined cutoff much better than the GS The LED main beam "when lit" were adequate, but at low speed "seemed to be about 20mph" or when coming to a standstill turned off, and would not come back on till above 20mph. This was annoying in narrow country lanes when another car passed in the other direction. Turning off the main beam, and slowing below 20mph after passing the main beam would not come on till speed was increased. The main beam also does not give full light immediately, but comes on in a definite pattern starting with a central illuminated area that spreads out sideways until fully lit about 2 seconds +. Even at speed this was still the case. The dip ,and main beam were well matched in color. Although the GS dip, and beam do not match in color the GS main beam is far superior. The display screen for the satnav, rev cam, and other systems is very good. It's a pity the lines on the reversing camera err on the side of very safe by looking like you are going to reverse into an object when checking the mirrors you are going to clear it by some margin. The birds eye view is excellent. The handbook is built into this screen, and here the fun rely starts. The washer system needed topping up, and no where could I find the bonnet release. The handbook has a search facility where you type in you question. I tried to type in release bonnet. The alphabet appears at the bottom of the screen, and you choose the letters you wish. As you do this the system gray's out some of the letters reducing your choice, and comes up with possibilities. Up pops release boot , and all the letters that would spell bonnet are grayed out. Eventually. I found what I was looking for under engine bonnet. The instructions clearly showed with pictures for a right hand drive car that the release lever was in the passengers foot well to the right by the transmission tunnel. It was not there. After much searching I found the release on the drivers side above the accelerator pedal roughly where the OBD port is in the GS, but you need to stand on you head to find it. John.

You do not need a ramp or even remove the wheels this can be done on the floor by just turning the steering onto full lock either way to gain access to the track rod ends. John.

Quite honestly Jason I do not believe them. The system they build is designed to fit on both sides of a vehicle, and also almost certainly fits many different vehicles. It does not make any sense to manufacture specific car fitting for a market that is so small anyway. If it were the case could they not offer an exchange scheme. Take some pictures of the mounting points, and then go into a dealers and ask to do the same on a 2016 shape. Take a tape measure with you, and do a few measurements then compare. John.

I had this problem with my GS450H however I had never had the tracking checked or adjusted. The tyres front and rear were wearing evenly with no shoulder ware. I dialed in one turn of tow in on each track rod marking there original position first so that I could return to this position if required. The problem disappeared completely, and tyre ware was not impacted in any way. I know this was not very scientific, but it did work, and has done now for about 2 years. It is worth a try as it will not cost anything, and can be reversed if it does not work for you. I did post about it at the time, but I cannot find the post. John.

My car was taken into the body shop today, but still no news on what is happening with it. A new (56 miles) Mercedes C class diesel delivered in black as a loan car. Everything about the car is black even inside is a sea of high gloss black plastic. I have not driven it far as yet, but the controls are not intuitive. It has a keyless entry system much like the Lexus. Once sitting in the car the start button on the dash is completely hidden behind the steering wheel, and does not fall readily to hand. I have to peer round the steering to find it. After starting the car the electric parking brake is released by pushing a curved knob where you would normally find the bonnet release. After much searching i found the transmission control "for park neutral forwards, and reverse" was a stalk lever in the traditional position of the screen wipe wash control this being moved to the position on the other side of the steering wheel. The transmission stalk is pushed down for "D" up for reverse or a quick push up for neutral. A button on the end selects park. I just hope there is an interlock to prevent operation while on the move. The seats are of the bucket variety, and although not sat in for long did not strike as being comfortable. To be fare to these I have not yet tried any settings. It has a large high definition screen with multiple cameras to give both a normal rear view with lines, and a birds eye view from above all brilliantly clear. The lines in the rear view picture did not represent what I was seeing in the mirrors. The lines showing I would reverse into something if I continued, and the door mirrors showing I would clear the object by some margin. I will write more after driving a reasonable distance. John.

When checking the battery terminals also check the connection where the battery lead connects to the car body. Rust under the connection is quite common, and can cause such problems. It would be also prudent to charge the battery while it is not in use. John.

Hi Jason. I would not think there is any difference in fitting the hoist between the RX400, and the 450. I have fitted a home built system to my GS, and know what a great help this is. I did consider an external carrier fitted to the tow bar, but realised this would not only hamper boot access, but the chair would be open to the weather, and dirt dragged up at the rear of the car. John.

It's probably easier now as usually the brush holder is removed by undoing two screws in the back of the alternator. Back in the days you are talking about "I had an MG magnet virtually the same car as the Wolseley" you had to dismantle the Lucas dynamo to get to the brushes. John.

The problem with the alternator at that millage is likely to be the brushes have worn, Sometime just swapping them over is enough to restore normal operation for many more tens of K's miles as due to the configuration one brush always wares faster than the other. Even just fitting new brushes is much cheaper than buying a new alternator. John.

The thing to bear in mind is that the bar display is not a battery 100% or 0% display, and the bars are not a linear as far as percentage charge for each individual bar. Zero bars is battery at 40% charged. All green bars "or all full bars" is battery 80% charged. These are the minimum and maximum charge levels the computer will allow so you only ever get to use 40% of the potential battery capacity. John.

When I reported the pothole that damaged my car the hole was repaired within 2 working days while other smaller holes in the same stretch of road were left untouched. John.

He cannot get out of his obligations by writing this. I have put out a request on your behalf asking members to give you any information they have on this. John.

Can members please pass on any information they may have or details of posts about him to member LEDMaestro101. Having bought a car from Lexuschap, and having problems. He has a post 430 key programming without master. Thanks. John.

He definitely is a trader, and has tried all manor of devious methods of selling Lexus cars including changing the details on Ebay after selling a car. He often tries to get out of his obligations by writing sold as seen on invoices. John.

There are a few posts here about this trader he used to sell under the name Lexus chap. He has been taken to court by trading standards on two occasions, and fined. I suggest you get in touch with Dudley trading standards as they are very interested to hear about his antics. Under the law you have a 6 month guarantee with the car when buying from a trader. John.

Did you by any chance buy this vehicle from a guy in Dudley? John.

The scoring is nothing to worry about, but anoying. Did the parts guy give you a price on the new screen wash tablet? Imagine the saving on transport alone for carrying around a tablet taking up less space than a match box, and weighing next to nothing compared to the bulk of 5ltrs of liquid weighing 5kilos, and needing a substantial container to hold it. John.